After another twenty minutes of Alice playing with "Bella the dress up barbie," she finally decided on a simple ensemble and instructed me to go to the mirror to inspect her work. "Alice, is Edward's surprise taking me to a funeral?" I was dressed all in black, and of course that ridiculously heavy cape was black as well. Alice rolled her eyes and began picking up the clothes that were scattered all over the room.

"No Bella, you're not going to a funeral. Trust me, you won't want to be wearing bright colors, you'll want to blend. And another thing; stop trying to make me give you hints, it's not going to work. From this moment on, I refuse to tell you even the smallest detail about this evening; otherwise Edward will have my head."

"It's going to be tonight then?" I was suddenly so nervous and excited; having a more definite time gave me a countdown to work with.

"Oh! You didn't know that! Crap! He really is going to kill me! Well that's it; not one more word!" Alice made the motion of zipping her mouth shut and nodded her head as if sealing her promise. I turned around and glanced back at the mirror; I was still unsure about this outfit of hers…

"Isabella Swan! Don't you DARE think about wearing different clothes!" Alice flew to my side and I cursed myself for wavering in my decision; now that Alice had seen my uncertainty, she would probably follow me around until the moment that Edward took me away; just to make sure I had her precious clothes on.

"Sorry Alice," I sighed, resigned to the fate that this little pixie had chosen for me. "But I'm not going to wear these clothes all day," Alice opened her mouth to speak but I held up my hand, "I'm saying I'll wear them; just not until it's time for me to go with Edward." At this, Alice looked to my side and I saw her eyes become distant as she confirmed my decision. In less than a second, her eyes had refocused on my face and she smiled at me.

"Of course Bella, you'll be sleeping soon anyway and I wouldn't want you to wrinkle them."

"Sleeping? But I'm not even tired." I couldn't believe that I would want to sleep, even if I had been tired, Edward was still away and I was already getting excited about tonight. There was no way I would be able to sleep now. But Alice simply smiled at my questioning look and tapped her forehead. Of course.

"Honestly Bella, when are you going to start believing me?" She floated back to the middle of the room, laughing. She thought it was funny that I would ever doubt her; and I had to admit, she had a point. I looked around me at the small mountains of clothes and shoes thrown over every piece of furniture and covering most of the floor. It would take a normal person the better part of an hour to straighten this room. I closed my eyes and counted to ten, when I opened my eyes Alice was carrying the last of the shoes back to the closet.

"Wow. That was fast."

"Actually," I whirled around to see Jasper leaning against the door frame, "she was taking her time." He gave me a little wink, "Alice hates wrinkles."

"When it comes to clothes; wrinkles are just as bad as stains!"

"Hahah like you've ever had a stain!"

"Well, almost…and I've seen plenty of stains on her clothes and I do not want to experience it myself!" Alice pointed her slender finger in my direction as I tried to sneak out of the room. Normally I suppose I would have been offended at Alice's comment about my clothes; but I couldn't argue; it was the truth. Clothes just weren't that important to me, and a few tiny stains here and there didn't really matter. Of course I would never say this to Alice though.

Jasper and Alice continued to flirtatiously argue with each other and from my perspective there was no end in sight, so I decided now was as good a time as any to "hunt" for my own breakfast. "You would dress like a southern hobo if I didn't buy – don't forget to change out of those clothes Bella! – clothes for you and tell you what to wear." I heard Alice when I reached the hallway and made a detour to my room. I quickly slipped out of the funeral attire and shoved on my sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt. I was so excited, I felt like I could stay awake for days, but I knew that by tonight I would be dead on my feet. I went to the bathroom and began rummaging through the drawers and cabinets. Alice had said that I hadn't packed anything to help me sleep, but I knew that Edward had made sure to bring his own arsenal of medications for me. He was prepared for just about any form of illness that I might have, and for anything that he hadn't covered, Carlisle had brought along in his medical bag. After a few minutes I found a small bottle in the bottom of the medicine cabinet. They were motion sickness pills that Edward had bought in the airport before this trip. He had thought they would just make me a little loopy, but within minutes I had passed out and was asleep for the majority of the flight. I tossed two of the tiny pills in my mouth and swallowed half a glass of water. As I was walking out of the bathroom, it occurred to me that I had not read the dosage amount on the label. I picked up the bottle and read the directions: For adults, take one half pill every four hours for relief of motion sickness. One half pill every four hours, and I had just taken two whole tablets. This was probably going to be a problem later on…

I strolled into the kitchen and found Esme at the stove. "You're not cooking for me, are you?" Esme was an amazing cook, especially for someone who didn't have the proper sense of taste, but I always felt bad that she took the time to cook just for me.

"Yes Bella, I thought you might be getting hungry by now. Is bacon and eggs okay?" My own version of breakfast involved some cereal or a granola bar, but Esme always made a balanced meal with all the proper food groups; she even added fruit.

"Um, yeah that's fine. What time is it anyway?"

"It's going on six o'clock."

"Six? In the morning?!" Esme glanced up from the frying pan at my excited tone.

"Yes dear, is something wrong?"

"Ugh. Alice got me up way too early." I hadn't had nearly enough sleep and that posed a serious danger for my time with Edward tonight. I would hate to ruin his plans just because I was exhausted.

"Relax Bella. You couldn't sleep anyway. And remember, I told you that you were going to be sleeping later, didn't I?" Alice walked into the kitchen and sat at the marble island in the center of the room. I looked her over for a second, wondering what was amiss. Her appearance was almost…disheveled. Definitely not normal for Alice, unless she had just…

"Ew."

"Hmph. It's not ew. You're just impatient to have some ew with Edward." Alice flashed me a devilish smile and my face heated up. I always hated it when she talked about Edward and I doing…things. It wasn't fair that she could know when it would happen, and it was embarrassing to think that she would be able to see it. I pushed the thought from my head and decided to sit in the living room until Esme was finished with my breakfast. I heard Alice call after me, "Don't worry about it so much, it'll happen eventually, just be patient. He's not going to rush into anything."

"Enough Alice. Try to stay out of their private affairs." I heard Esme gently scold Alice and I smiled; Esme was definitely on my side. I turned into the living room and found Emmett on the couch, remote in hand.

"Hey, anything on tv?"

"We've got 397 channels; 94 of them are sports channels." Emmett spoke quickly without looking up from the screen.

"Let me guess, you can't find the game?" I slid onto the opposite side of the couch from him and curled up with one of the plush pillows. I couldn't think of any game that would be on at six in the morning, but Emmett often watched international sports, and I would see him cheering for a game at almost any time of day.

"Nope." He sighed and absently flung the remote at me, expecting that I'd catch it. It hit my leg and I bit my lip to keep from yelping aloud. Emmett's toss was more like a throw with some serious force behind it. I tried to be inconspicuous as I rubbed my leg and turned on the channel guide. "Are you okay?" Crap, so much for inconspicuous. I gave him my most convincing look.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I added a little too much excitement to my reassurance though. I really needed to learn how to lie. Emmett just smiled and gently tossed the soft pillow from his side of the couch.

"Sorry Bella." The pillow landed close to me, but didn't touch me at all. I picked it up and added it to my pile. Emmett knew how much I loved to curl up with the giant pillows to watch tv.

"Thanks. So, since you can't watch the game, what are you watching?"

"Um," Emmett shifted uncomfortably; very strange for someone who normally didn't move for hours at a time. "I don't know, I just left it on the channel that was on when I turned on the tv." I gave him a puzzled look and pushed the information button.

"Emmett. You're watching Clueless."

"Well…like I said…I just left it on the channel that you had it on last night!" I didn't say anything, I just looked at him and smiled. "Bella…please, please, don't say anything!"

"I won't say anything Emmett," I started to giggle, "but I don't think it really matters. They had to have heard you." I motioned toward the kitchen where Esme and Alice had been just moments before. Emmett gave me a small smile.

"Alice and Jasper left to hunt again about twelve seconds ago, Rosalie is in the garage, and Esme was paying attention to Food Network in the kitchen. So that leaves you." He spoke in a rush and his frantic eyes never left my face. I had to admit, I was a little intimidated by his gaze, but I tried to laugh it off.

"Um, relax Emmett. I won't tell anybody that you like Clueless."

"Sshhh! I don't like it! I was just watching it."

"Well, if you're done watching it, do you mind if I change the channel?"

"Yeah go ahead, I need to go, um, talk to Rose anyway." Emmett jumped off the couch and fled the room. I was still laughing when Esme gracefully walked into the living room with a tray of juice, bacon, slices of apple and orange, buttered toast, and enough scrambled eggs to feed Texas. I blushed as she set down my food and handed me a fork.

"Bon appetit."

"Thank you, it all looks wonderful." I gave a small smile and sat up to reach the tray. Esme stayed for my first bite of eggs, and when I gave her my it's delicious face, she smiled and went back to the kitchen. I ate as much as I could. I always felt rude when I didn't eat all the food that Esme would prepare for me, but she made so much of it, most times I couldn't help but leave some. After I had stuffed myself to beyond capacity, I took the tray back to the kitchen. Esme was no longer there and I assumed she had gone upstairs or outside. With my hearing, the Cullens could be anywhere besides the room I was in and I wouldn't know it. Actually, they could be in the same room as me and I still probably wouldn't hear them. But usually they made some sort of noise whenever they neared me, or when they were leaving. I imagined that this was a consideration solely for my benefit. They knew it would make me more comfortable if I was aware of their presence instead of constantly being surprised by their every move.

I shoved the dishes into the dishwasher and went back to the living room. It wasn't even 6:30 yet and I was getting anxious. When would Edward be back? I didn't even know when he had left, so I had no idea when to expect him. Emmett was right about the tv, Clueless was ending and there wasn't anything else coming on that I cared to watch. After scrolling through the channels for the second time, I decided on Survivorman and curled up with my pillows to learn how to endure a week in Antarctica. The host had just woken up to day two when I closed my eyes…

I was standing in the center and all around me was flat and white. Snow covered everything, but it was hard and solid. I looked up and there was no sky, it was all just white. I was dressed in pajamas, but I wasn't really cold. I looked down at my feet and there was something colored underneath them, but it was faded. I bent down to brush at the surface of the object, but it was smooth and solid. Ice. I was standing on ice. I swept away the flakes of snow and peered through the foggy glass. The object had a face, a familiar face. It was Edward. I wasn't scared though, he was smiling at me through the ice. I bent down to see him more clearly. As I peered through the ice, he motioned with his finger, beckoning me to come closer. I knelt on the ice and put my hands down to steady myself. Once again he motioned with his finger, but I didn't move, I was suddenly afraid. I moved to stand up, but his expression changed, as he saw me moving away, an evil smile spread across his pale face. He motioned to me once more and then pressed his face against the underside of the ice. It was at the moment when his lips touched the bottom of the ice in a frozen kiss that I heard the sickening crack. In a sudden rush, the ice buckled beneath me and I plunged into the frozen water. The water was so cold; it was like knives stabbing every part of me. I thrashed about wildly; fighting my way to the top, to the air. But just before I broke the surface, two arms crushed into my sides and pulled me into a painful embrace. I let out the last of my air in a silent scream as Edward pulled us down into the frozen darkness…