I jolted out of my reverie, back to the living room, and realised I had spent far too long with my memories. It was an occupational hazard of having perfect recall. So long spent seeing the past, what had I missed in the present, in the future?

At some point Esme had got up, and was now in the kitchen, cleaning the already spotless granite surface until they shined. Esme was so houseproud, despite the fact that it was only ever our family who saw our home. Once a decade or so the Denalis would visit and we would visit them, but otherwise only the seven of us ever saw Esme's hard work.

An idea sparked and I sensed the future change abruptly. Tomorrow's future, specifically. Good, Edward would agree.

"Esme?" I called. She turned to the door, curiosity and fear together in her eyes. "Don't worry, nothing's happened. I was just thinking, could we invite Bella round tomorrow?"

Of course, I already knew her answer.

"Oh, that would be lovely!" she said, glowing at the suggestion. "I'll arrange it with the others later; we'll all need to hunt, and I must dust the piano again…"

I stopped paying attention as my mother planned all the preparations for the first visitor in the two years since we'd been here. Instead, I focused back on Bella and Edward. They were nearly at the meadow now. Carefully, I matched the image to my won knowledge of the surrounding forest, so I could make my way there in a hurry if needs be. I'd be arriving from a different direction to Bella and Edward, so I couldn't just follow their scents, and I'd never been there before. To my relief, I realised I recognised that particular pine tree, so I knew where they were.

I was curious to see what the meadow would look like in an ordinary vision. When I had looked for them last night, I had been focussing so much on the pair of them that their surroundings hadn't really registered, so I had only ever seen it in my vision of Bella and Edward yesterday afternoon.

Suddenly the sun burst through the persistent clouds. I pulled myself back to the present just in time to see the dazzling light pour through the southern wall of glass and hit my skin.

When I had first woken up as a vampire, I had been totally unaware that the sparkling of sunlight on my skin was anything but normal. That was another situation where my sight had saved me – if I hadn't foreseen the human reaction when I stepped out into the sun that I would have gone right ahead and done it.

The human reaction- how would Bella react?

The unlikely pair was only a hundred yards or so from the meadow and Bella was beginning to pull ahead. Edward let her lead him into a place that only he had ever seen. Well, in real life, anyway.

I saw Bella's eyes widen in awe as she took in the beauty of the meadow. I refocused, trying to ignore Bella and instead see where she was standing. No matter how I strained, though, I couldn't achieve the crystal clarity I had seen yesterday. The vibrant wildflowers seemed more pastel, the grass not as verdant, and the sunlight was not quite the perfect shade of warm, buttery yellow.

It was still beautiful and it still looked like Bella belonged there. She waded through the knee-high grass, for once looking almost graceful. Her chocolate eyes darted from the protective ring of trees to the watery blue sky, pupils contracting against the rare sunlight and then she turned her head to look for Edward. When she didn't see him directly behind her, her eyes widened in fear. I wondered what she was afraid of- not being able to find her way back? Maybe she thought she had imagined him, and this was just a dream that was about to turn sour. Whatever the reason, she whirled round and caught sight of my brother, still in the shade at the periphery of the meadow.

She smiled in relief and expectation, and took two slow steps toward him, her hand raised as she beckoned him forward. He stopped her with a palm held up in warning; she paused, her eyes alight. There was a long moment of anticipation and I wondered if Edward, too, was thinking of my vision. He took a deep, unnecessary breath and with his eyes fixed on hers, took a single step forward. He froze.

The sunlight shattered off his skin, dancing into rainbows of eight colours. (I found it incomprehensible that humans could only see seven. How much else did they miss?) The splintered rays reflected off the flowers, throwing back brighter colours. It was as though the presence of a vampire inspired the plants to try to match his beauty.

Bella gasped and Edward tensed, but it was a gasp of wonderment and awe, not fear. I smirked, glad I had removed the buttons from Edward's shirt that morning. I had to admit it hadn't done anything for Bella's self-esteem, but really, nothing would cure that until she was as beautiful as him. Privately, I thought she would turn out far more good looking, but I decided not to voice that opinion aloud. I wasn't sure if Edward had heard it in my thoughts, though.

Bella took a step forward, marvelling at the sight of him. Edward seemed to be blatantly surprised that she didn't scream and run from him. Idiot.

Almost as though they were dancing a pavane, they walked slowly towards each other; his eyes were still wary, hers filled with awe. They stopped around two feet away from each other, staring at each other's faces, measuring their reactions, reading each other like a book they couldn't bear to put down. I wondered if they realised that they were both leaning into each other, just by a fraction. I wondered if they even knew how much they obviously wanted each other.

For a minute they just gazed at each other, then Edward reached his hand out: an invitation. In answer, she placed her soft, creamy hand into his hard, sparkling palm, and their fingers twined together.

Mesmerised, I watched as my brother pulled the human girl back to the centre of the meadow and sat down sinuously; she copied him with jerky, clumsy movements. Slowly, carefully, he disengaged their fingers, lay back in the grass, and closed his eyes. Bella remained sitting, still staring at him. She curled her knees up to her chest, clutching them against her torso, and gazed at him- his hands, his arms, his exposed chest, but always her eyes flickered back to his face.

Touching, maybe, but this could get tedious. I fast forwarded a while: nothing and more nothing. Why couldn't they hurry up and make the decision to move already? Or even speak? I hadn't been intending to actually listen in, or at least not much, but…

I gave up watching for the moment, though I kept the scene playing in the corner of my mind, just in case. Instead I turned my attention to my family, intending to help Esme prepare for Bella's visit. As I got up to find her (well, maybe find was the wrong verb – of course I knew she was still in the kitchen), I heard Rosalie talking to our mother. I was vaguely surprised that Rose had left Emmett alone, no matter how short the interlude was, so I sauntered into the kitchen to join the conversation.

Rosalie was across the kitchen from Esme, looking defensive with her arms folded across her chest and a face like thunder. Esme's expression was appeasing, and I could guess why Rose had interrupted her day's plans. Then again, guessing wasn't exactly necessary right now. Rosalie was being quite vocal about her feelings.

"I will not hang around tomorrow and pretend to be nice to a girl I don't even like for Edward's benefit!"

"Rose…"

"Don't 'Rose' me! Why can't anyone else see how dangerous this is?"

"There's no danger from-"

"No? What if she blabs, Esme? Hecan't read her mind so how do we know?"

"Because I cansee her, Rose," I interrupted. "Trust me, she won't tell a soul. And who would believe her if she did?"

"If word got back to the Volturi-"

"Honestly, Rose," I said. "How on earth would the Volturi hear of her? Even Kate and Irina wouldn't report us for this. Plus, she'll become one of us in the next couple of years – problem solved!"

"And what if not all of us want that to happen, Alice?" she snarled.

I sighed. "What is your problem with her, Rose? She seems nice enough to me."

Rosalie snorted. "Yeah, like Edward hasn't told you exactly what I think." There was a glint of embarrassment in her expression, igniting my inherent curiosity.

I shook my head. "He hasn't, actually. Well not everything. He only said you thought it was dangerous for us and her."

She looked ashamed for a split second – what was she holding back? – and then recovered. "Yeah, that's another thing. You're so sure we'll change her into a vampire, but has anyone actually asked her whether she wants to be condemned to death?"

I smiled slightly at the irony. "You sound like Edward. And I'm saying to you what I said to him: of course she gets a choice, we just know what she'll choose."

Rosalie's face didn't soften. "Then is it any wonder I don't like her? What sort of a sick person would choose this?"

"Over what?" I asked. "Growing old while Edward stays seventeen forever? Never able to properly kiss him in case he kills her? Rosalie, he'll always love her, and I'm relatively sure she'll always love him." My voice grew quieter, trying to soothe her. "She'll be childless no matter which option she takes." I knew that was her main argument on this front.

Sure enough, my sister huffed. "Relatively sure," she muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "But if I'm wrong she won't have to make the choice at all, will she?" I countered.

Rosalie was about to retort when Esme intervened. "Girls, can I ask you to please postpone this argument until after we know what's going on?" She looked pointedly at me as she spoke.

"Okay, okay, I get the hint," I said. "I'll go watch." I knew nothing much was happening, but it was preferable to arguing with Rose.

Rosalie had to have the last word. "I still won't be round tomorrow if she is."

Ignoring her, I looked for Bella and Edward, leaning against the kitchen counter. I was faintly aware of Rosalie storming out of the kitchen, but most of me was focused on Bella, who had (finally) taken the decision to move, and was just about to reach out for Edward's hand, running her fingers over the marble surface. Edward's eyes flicked open in surprise; he couldn't believe she was so comfortable touching him. Bella was so unusually comfortable around us. Her survival instincts should be screaming at her to run, and here she was stroking her predator's skin!

Edward flipped his hand over so she could see his palm. Too fast! I mentally chided him, and sure enough, Bella froze. His eyes flew open, and I could read the apology on his lips. Despite the momentary fear, Bella was soon running her fingers over Edward's arm, tracing the dried-out veins. It felt so intimate, and I reflected that they most probably could be no more intimate than this. It would be far too difficult for him to kiss her whilst she was human.

It hardly occurred to me that if the moment was intimate, I shouldn't be watching. For one thing, I had to be aware every moment. If the feeling of her skin against his became too much, I had to act quickly.

With that thought, I skimmed through the next twenty minutes or so, a bit like speed-reading. Hmm, more touching Edward's hand – cute – , short conversation, something changes further back, maybe five minutes away, conversation earlier, Edward sits up to see her face, Bella leans in… oh no.

"Esme!" I screamed, before realising that she was still only two metres away from me in the kitchen. I vaguely registered her blank look of fear before I was pelting out of the house, yelling over my shoulder.

"I saw it earlier, shouldn't be anything more than an alarming moment, not worth leaving it to chance!" By this stage I was out of earshot so I focused on running. I had around three and a quarter minutes to get there, so it should be fine, but if either of them decided to speak sooner, it mightn't end well.