Bella had her head between her knees, clearly still queasy from the run. Edward was kneeling in front of her, unblinking, breathing deeply to desensitise himself as much as vampirically (well, I couldn't say humanly) possible. When he had worked up enough courage, he murmured, "Open your eyes, Bella."

Her long, thick hair fell back over her shoulders as she raised her head. Her eyelids moved slowly, gradually revealing her chocolate irises; her pupils contracted against the sudden onslaught of light. His closeness shocked her, and her chest fluttered as her breathing grew shallow. She tried to answer him sarcastically, but an idiot could see she was struggling to hold a coherent strain of thought. I smirked when she called my brother a show off – she didn't know how right she was.

"No, I was thinking there was something I wanted to try."

The smile faded from Edward's lips and I saw the doubt in his eyes. He breathed in deeply once more, slowly, slowly leaned forward, and kissed her.

I suppressed a bubble of excitement. But the bubble quickly popped.

If her reaction was anything like mine, she'd be in trouble.

She pressed her lips to his in a sudden flurry of emotion. Her hands flew to his hair, entwining her fingers in its bronzy softness. Her eyes snapped shut and she inhaled sharply. Abruptly I realised that she had previously not been breathing at all. I was so used to being around people who didn't actually need to breathe that I hadn't registered her need for oxygen. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, her lips parted slightly and her scent, pure and unfiltered, saturated the tiny space between them.

I couldn't tear my horrified gaze away. I doubted even Edward could resist such temptation. I supposed it wasn't a bad way to go, though. Killed by a kiss. I waited for him to give in and bite her. I knew I wouldn't be able to get there in time to save her. I waited for the inevitable.

Pah! I didn't give my brother enough credit. His golden eyes flashed, but before he could even think of hurting her, he froze into a perfect statue of ice. He didn't draw away though, perhaps scared to move at all.

Bella's eyes reopened in shock at her own loss of control. "Oops," she said.

The vision dissipated as I dissolved into a fit of the giggles. I could feel that she was in no danger, so I let myself go in my absolute delight. He kissed her! Edward kissed her! My brother, alone for a century, finally had his first kiss! He kissed her!

The sound of a car turning onto the drive prevented Esme from asking the three-dozen questions she had been about to ask. While Jasper had drifted off during my inactive period, she had remained staring at me, hands on hips for all the time I'd been watching, with all the patience of an immortal. What were a few minutes when you had forever?

Unfortunately for me, Esme seemed unable to apply the principle to waiting for Edward to tell her the news, so Carlisle's return was timed perfectly. It was almost like a TV program, where a character will walk in just in time to catch a certain line; it always struck me as ridiculously contrived, but I was seriously grateful to coincidence now. I smiled in relief as Esme went to greet her husband at the front door, and made to escape. That plan was quickly put down.

"Don't you move a single inch, Alice Cullen. I need to speak to you."

I grimaced at Esme's warning and the quick vision of the consequences if I disobeyed her – no shopping for a year! – and sat back down.

Carlisle's footsteps echoed across the perch at a slow, steady pace. He hated to rush anything and rarely used his vampiric speed if he could help it. Three and a half centuries of existence had taught him patience and a desire to treasure every moment. It was a quality I knew Esme hoped I would one day gain. Privately, I highly doubted that would ever happen.

Carlisle swept Esme into his arms and placed a tender kiss on her lips. Most children would look away politely (or impolitely, I supposed) but not in our house. After all, none of us were children really, or at least not when it came to sex. Well, Edward was, but since he was forced to listen to our thoughts every night you could hardly count him as innocent and unsullied, and there really was no point trying to hide anything from him.

As soon as my parents broke apart, Carlisle asked, "How's Edward getting on?" No secrets in this house!

"Alice is refusing to tell me," Esme said, throwing a glare in my direction. I rearranged my face into the most innocent expression I could muster as Carlisle looked questioningly at me.

"What?" I protested. "It's Edward's date! He should tell you! I'd tell you if there was anything wrong, or if she was in danger. But there isn't and she's not, and—" I cut off and groaned as a vision hit me. "I've got to hide this from you all evening."

"Why?" they asked together.

"He's staying at hers tonight. At least until she's asleep." Ugh. I should have expected this; it's the first night he can stay with her knowledge.

My parents exchanged a glance.

"Oh, don't look like that! He's seventeen years old and in love for the first time, what do you expect?" I smirked evilly. "It's not as if they can do anything."

Esme's eyes narrowed, so I wiped the expression from my face and continued. "And he won't hurt her, I'm absolutely certain of that. She's perfectly safe." For now, anyway. I changed the subject. "Carlisle, Bella's coming round tomorrow."

He smiled, predictably. "Have they actually agreed to that yet?"

They. Edward and Bella were already seen as a joint unit. I grinned back. "No. But they will."

"And what do the others think of your plans?"

My smile faded. "Rose and Em have left for the weekend."

Carlisle sighed, and moved to sit on the sofa, Esme with him.

"Can't you talk to her?" I asked him. "She's got to come round eventually. I mean, even if Edward gets his way, she'll still be around for a few decades."

He was already shaking his head. "I have spoken to her, and she won't relax her attitude. I think it's born out of caring for Bella, though."

I made a derisive noise in my throat.

"Alice, she's worried about Bella not getting a full human life; the reason she's angry with Edward is that he's threatening to take that away just by being close to her."

"That doesn't explain why she seems to hate Bella so much," I said.

"I asked her about that, too," Carlisle said wearily. "She didn't want to tell me everything – or at least that's the impression she left me with. Reading between the lines though, I think she is genuinely worried that Bella will reveal our existence to someone, and of course she's incredibly jealous."

I rolled my eyes. Though I could see her point, Rosalie's refusal to accept this life irritated me. She spent more time wallowing than was healthy, in my opinion. "Still doesn't explain why she doesn't hate every single human we come into contact with," I pressed. "There's got to be more to it than that."

"She'll come round," Esme said, though her voice was severely lacking in confidence.

We let the comment go, and there was silence for a few moments.

Esme broke into our contemplations. "What time can we expect Edward back?" she asked.

"Not until midnight at the earliest," I replied. "He'll want to listen to her sleep talking."

A tender smile blossomed on Esme's face. Edward had confided in her and Carlisle about Bella's nocturnal speeches after I threatened to throw out any music of his that I considered vaguely embarrassing. He had practically run to tell them then, though he hotly denied that little fact!

The first night Edward had watched Bella, I had been watching him, much as I had done today. Just in case. I knew he managed at school, but there he was making an effort to ignore her, and he knew his siblings were round to stop him. Fifth period had become a write-off for me since I spent the whole time watching Edward. My French teacher was beginning to get annoyed, though my fluency in the language helped keep her temper in check. So in one tiny room, with no other scents to distract him, and no one around to pull him away, I worried the temptation might be too much. Okay, okay, so a part of me just wanted to spy on him, but it was a small part, I swear! Well, I was a small person, so a big part of me would equate to a normal small part… wouldn't it? Well, whatever my motives, I packed Jasper off hunting (much to his distress) and settled down to watch Edward watch Bella.

That night, he slid in through her window with as little noise as possible, and left it open for a quick escape. It was quite late, but it looked like she had only just fallen asleep since her eyelids twitched continually and she shifted around her bed. Not that either of us knew much about sleep besides what Edward had learnt in medical school, and what he vaguely remembered. The covers slipped off her sleeping form and Edward, ever the gentleman, reached carefully over and draped the quilt back over her body. The gesture was so tender, even when his eyes were darkening with thirst.

I remembered grimacing as I saw the clothes she was wearing. How many holes did that t-shirt have? And by the look of those sweatpants, they were at least half as old as her.

I was distracted from my disgust at her evident lack of fashion know-how when suddenly a sound entered my vision. I started – I hadn't been trying to listen in – and then I realised what she had said.

"Edward."

For the love of Gucci, please don't let her have woken up, I prayed. Rosalie would be right, Edward would have to convince her it was a dream, and for us it would be a nightmare.

I prodded the mental image, adjusting my viewpoint, finding Bella's face, and breathed a sigh of relief which quickly turned into a squeal of delight. Bella was still asleep… and dreaming of my brother.

Esme had been overjoyed when she coaxed the details out of him. Though I'm sure the mother in her was certain no girl could resist 'her' Edward, I knew she had been worrying that now Edward had finally found love it was doomed to be unrequited. She had been so relieved when she found that her fears were unfounded, and it seemed silly that anyone had doubted it now.