Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review the last chapter. So on with the story ...

Disclaimer : SM owns Edward & Twilight, not me (sadly!)

24th June 1989 (weekend after Edward's sixth birthday) The 1st 'Seattle Emergency Services Summer Fundraiser'

I'll never forget the day I meet Bella.

I'm bored! I thought as I sat cross legged on the grass at the park. My stupid sister was sat next to me. She didn't look like me, even though she was my sister. She had long black hair and blue eyes. I have short brown hair with bits of red it in and green eyes, like mom. She was seven even though she'd been telling everyone she was eight. She's a liar and it's bad to tell lies, I pouted to myself. Stupid Alice!

I turned to see my dad looking busy. He had blue eyes; like Alice but yellow hair. He was helping some people set up a table for the cakes, Mmmmm cakes. My dad has been talking about this day, since forever; about how important it is for me and Alice to be good. Mom told me there would be lots of food, cakes, ice cream and even a bouncy castle and it's all to help get some money for the hospital. My dad's a doctor at the hospital. I want to be a doctor when I grow up; just like my dad.

I looked up at the sky to see the sunshine come down, it's really pretty; the sunshine. Where's that bouncy castle, I thought, Mom promised.

"Edward, you want to play over there with me. There are some other boys and girls" Alice said. I looked at her as she pointed to the playground where I saw a couple of boys. As I'd brought my new toy police car I got for my birthday and I wanted to show it off, I said "Okay".

"MOM!" Alice screamed; I covered my ears. She was so annoying. "Me and Edward are going over there to play." She pointed over at the playground.

My mom looked over to where Alice was pointing. "Okay Alice" Mom called back. She was sat next to the cake table with my baby brother, Emmett. He had blonde hair like dad and blue eyes too. He was three; I liked being a big brother.

"Take care of Edward like a big girl, yeah?" Er I'm a big boy now, I'm six! I thought. I don't need Alice to look after me.

"OKAY!" Alice screamed back. We stood up and Alice grabbed my hand. I tried to pull away but she was too strong. So I pushed her with my other hand. "STOP PUSHING ME EDWARD!"

"STOP SCREAMING ALICE!" I shouted back. She didn't let go of my hand and pushed me back. I pushed again; then she pushed me and let go on my hand at the same time. I fell backwards onto my bum. My hands scraped on the ground in the dirt.

"Ouch! Mommy, she pushed me down! Alice pushed me Mommy!" That really hurt my bum and my hands, I thought. I looked up to see our mom looking over me with Emmett on her hip.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen! I saw you push Alice first. She was only trying to hold your hand to make sure you were safe."

I held out my hands for my mom to see I was hurt. Putting Emmett down, she bent down to look. "They're fine, dear. You want mommy to kiss them better." I nodded so she kissed each hand and smiled at me. Magic kisses.

"Now say sorry to Alice please for pushing" I pouted, I didn't want to say sorry; it was her fault.

"Edward, now, say sorry" Mom said again. I stood up, patting my bum to get the dirt off my shorts.

"Sorry" I whispered hoping mom would hear me but Alice wouldn't.

"And you young lady. Say sorry to your brother for pushing him too"

"But mom ..." Alice started before she stopped her "I said say sorry."

"Sorry" Alice said looking like she didn't want to say it either.

"Now you two go and play nice …. please"

"Okay" we said together. Mom got up, holding Emmett's hand and walked to dad at the cake table. I really want some cake I thought as my tummy rumbled.

I picked up my shiny toy police car and we started to walk toward the playground. I saw a couple of boys on the climbing frame so I headed toward them. Alice headed for the swings. As I got nearer, I saw that the boys looked older than me, maybe the same age as Alice. Seven not eight I thought.

"Hi" I said to the boys. One jumped off the frame and walked up to me. He was really big with short, blonde hair. "This is for big boys only!" he shouted in my face. "Mike." the other boy said. "He's only little, don't me so nasty to him". I turned away as I heard the first boy laugh at me. I didn't like them.

I walked as fast as I could to the swings where Alice was. But Alice wasn't there. I looked over to the other side of the playground to see her sitting at a bench talking to some girls. Urgh girls!

I looked around to see if they were any boys my age to play with. Looking over at the sandbox, there was a boy with his back to me. He looked the same age as me, maybe a bit younger. He had shortish brown hair and was wearing a long sleeved green t-shirt and short denim dungarees. I looked across at Alice again to see she was still talking to the girls.

As I got to the sandbox, I could see the boy had made a sandcastle. It was really good, four big castles joined up with walls and he was digging around it. "Hello" I said.

He didn't answer as he carried on digging. "My name is Edward. What's your name?" I asked as I continued into the sand, sitting down crossed legged just behind him. "I'm Bee" he whispered. Bee, that's a strange name I thought to myself. "Like a Bumble Bee?" I asked.

"Yeah" he chuckled.

"Oh … hello Bee. How long did it take to make that?" He shrugged his shoulders and carried on digging.

"It was my birthday last week and I got a new police car, look." I shoved my new toy car to the side of him.

He looked at it for a second but continuing his digging. "My daddy has one of them, a real one" he said.

"Your dad's a police man! Wow that's so cool! My dad's a doctor. He works at the hospital and makes people better." I waited for Bee to say something. He didn't. "I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up just like my dad. Do you want to be a police man when you grow up like your dad?"

Bee stopped digging, put down his spade and turned to face me, laughing. "I don't want to be a policeman. Silly Edward. I want to be a ballerina."

I grasped. Bee was a girl! She had big brown eyes, they sparkled in the sunshine "You're a girl!" I stated.

"Erm yeah, 'cause I'm a girl. Silly Edward". She carried on laughing to herself as she started to dig again. I looked down at my police car again and back at Bee. "Is your name really Bee?"

"Yep. It's what my daddy calls me. It's short for Bella." she smiled at me.

I won't know why I stayed and talked to Bella. She was a girl; I didn't like girls but Bella was cool.

Her dad was a real policeman. She talked a little about him, his real police car and the baddies he caught. I talked about my dad and the hospital as I helped Bella with her sandcastle. I talked about my birthday last week and all the toys I got from my family. I talked about my baby brother, Emmett and my horrible big sister, Alice. I liked to talk. Bella didn't talk much. I think she was concentrating on our castle; it had ten towers now.

We had been talking for ages. Bella told me her dad was called Charlie and he was a policeman here in Seattle.

"We moved from Forks two weeks ago" Bella said. She looked down and looked like she might cry.

"You look sad. Didn't you want to leave?" I asked patting the top of my castle as I glanced at her sat next to me.

"I'm not sure" she whispered.

"Why?" I whispered back.

Bella turned to sit cross legged facing me. Her brown eyes looked shiny and I could see myself in them. I turned as well so we were now sitting in the sand facing each other. Our knees were nearly touching.

She looked down as she played with her fingers in her lap. I thought she was going to say something but then she started to cry. I could see tears falling down both her cheeks and her nose started to run.

"Don't cry" I whispered. I didn't like seeing her cry. It reminded me of my mom crying, I didn't like that either. I needed to make her laugh. I wanted her to be happy, like when we first met. I needed to be silly Edward again.

Jumping up and dusting the sand off my white shorts and blue t shirt, I jumped out of the sand box and ran to the edge of the park. Grabbing a couple of yellow flowers; hiding them behind my back, I dashed back to Bella and sat down again. My dad gives flowers to my mom and it makes her happy, I thought.

"Do you like flowers?" I asked. Bella wiped her nose with the end of her long sleeve and frowned at me. "Flowers?"

"Yeah, well bumble bees like flowers so I thought you would" I shrugged handing the small yellow flowers to her.

She looked down and took them off me giving me a sad smile. "Silly Edward. I'm not a 'real' bumble bee."

"No cause you're not yellow and black. You're little but not really little like a bumble bee. But you do like flowers right?"

"Yeah I do" Bella's smile grew as she put the flowers to her nose. "Urgh they don't smell like nice flowers."

"Sorry." I said looking down.

"Silly Edward"

She started to smile more as we continued to build our castle. It now took up most of the sand box. I ran to get some pebbles while Bella got some twigs. We carefully put these on, as we both stepped back to look at your finished building.

"Wow … it's really awesome" I smiled. We'd spend most of the afternoon building these castles.

"Yeah. They look really pretty" Bella said. I snorted, "That's such a girl thing to say."

"Well I am a girl. You are really silly Edward, you know that"

I smiled. "Yeah, my sister is always saying that"

"Can I meet your sister? Please?" I glanced over at Bella. She looked like she really wanted to.

"Okay. She's ..." I looked over to the bench where I last saw her. She wasn't there. I frowned as I looked over to where the music was coming here. There were lots of people in the park now as well as lots of tables with food and games.

"I think she'll be with my mom and dad, over there" I pointed towards the noise. Bella's nose wrinkled like it did when she sniffed the flowers I gave her. Then she stood as tall as she could which was smaller than me and grabbed my hand. She started to drag me along with her as she marched over the playground and onto the park.

"Wait, Bee, Stop. You don't know who my mom and dad are. I need to be the leader." So we swapped so I was leading her though the people. I saw my mom and Emmett first. He was on the bouncy castle, on the edge, holding on to mom's hands. He looked like he really liked it. I wanted to take Bella on there.

"That's my mom and little brother, Emmett" I pointed to the bouncy castle. "You wanna go on there?" I asked. She was still tagging along behind me.

"I'm not sure. I'm not very good. My balance is rubbish"

"Come on" I shouted. We got through the crowd and Mom spotted me. "Hello stranger! Where have you been all afternoon? You've been missing all the fun!"

"I've been in the sand box with Bee … urgh Bella. She's my new friend. We built sandcastles together" I beamed. Mom let go of Emmett's hands and he crawled into the middle. She bent down on one knee and smiled. "Hello Bella. I'm Edward's Mom. Pleased to meet you." Bella looked down and said a quiet "hello".

"You two want to help Emmett on the bouncy castle? I need to go and find your dad, dear." She messed my hair with her hand as she walked off to find dad.

"Okay Mom" I called after her. I let go of Bella's hand to take my shoes off and climbed on. It was only a little bouncy castle, red and yellow with clowns on it. Once I was in the middle with Emmett, I looked back at Bella who was still stood at the edge, biting her lip.

"Come on Bee! Take your shoes and get on! This is fun!" I shouted as I bounced in the middle. Emmett who was sat down was bouncing because of me; he thought it was fun too.

I looked up to see Bella take off her shoes and carefully crawl in until she got to me. I stopped bouncing for a minute. Holding on her hands, I helped her stand. She looked a bit surprised.

"You okay?" I asked. She looked straight at me. "I think so"

"You too Emmett, come on!" I let go of Bella's hand so Emmett could join our circle. Emmett held my hand as well as Bella's. "Emmett, this is my friend Bee" I said. Emmett just grinned at her.

I started to bounce a little still holding on to Bella and Emmett's hands. Bella looked like she was thinking really hard about something. I bounced a bit harder and Emmett started to giggle. He loved it.

All three of us were bouncing like this for a while. Then without warning Emmett let go of Bella's hand. Emmett bounced funny which send him flying into me. I started to fall so had to let go of Bella's hand. As I did, Bella bounced backwards and landed on her knees then fell onto her side. Emmett started to cry as his arm fell on my knee.

I looked up to see my dad crawling over to us to get to Emmett. Scooping him up, he crawled back off, hugging him then checking his arm. "Edward, Bella, you two okay?" Mom called.

I looked over at Bella. She was still lying on her side, her cheeks were pink and she had a big smile on her face. I smiled back at her, "Yeah we're okay Mom."

After the bouncy castle, me and Bella went to get some food with my mom. As we stood in line at the buffet tables, a tall man with brown hair and a moustache came to stand with us. "Hi Daddy" Bella said as she hugged his middle.

"Hey Bee, you okay honey?"

"Yes. Daddy, this is my new friend, Edward." she said as she pointed at me.

"Oh hi Edward. I'm Charlie. Have you two been having fun today? I've been watching you in the sand box and on the bouncy castle."

Bella's cheeks got pink again "Yeah it's been good."

Charlie looked at my mom, "You must be Esme, pleased to meet you. Carlisle's just been talking to me about the fundraiser." he nodded towards where my dad was talking to some people. "Seems like it's been a great success."

"Thank you Charlie. Yes I think we've done okay. Edward, Bella. Go get some food. We'll wait here."

As we got to the front of the line, I started to talk. "So your dad is nice."

"Yeah he's the best" she smiled but then started to look sad again. I filled my plate up with food for me and Emmett; he was always pinching my food. Bella was putting some food on her plate when Alice came over to be annoying.

"Hi, I'm Alice!" she took one of Bella's hands and shook it. Bella nearly dropped her plate. "Um, hi Alice. You're Edward's sister" she stated.

"Yeah I'm his big sister. I'm eight"

"No you're not!" I shouted, "You're seven. Stop being a liar."

"Shut up Edward, you're just stupid!" Alice screamed back.

"HE'S NOT STUPID!" I turned to see Bella frowning at Alice. Alice just snickered and whispered something under her breath, I couldn't hear what she said but Bella's cheeks were pink again. Alice then skipped away. "Sorry" I said. Bella just nodded.

We walked back to where Mom and Charlie where standing. "Hey sunshine's. Charlie and I were just chatting about you two. Turns out we only live a few of blocks away from each other so you two can play together some more after today. Wouldn't that be great, Edward?"

"Yeah it would" I mumbled around a sausage roll. Bella rolled her eyes at me and smiled, "I'd like that too."

16th September 1989

The Saturday after Bella's seventh birthday, I was invited to her party at her house. Bella's birthday was September thirteenth. She was one of the oldest in our school year. Bella and I had spent lots of time together since the day in the park. We were best friends.

Her full name was Isabella Marie Swan but if you called her Isabella, she would pinch you on the arm. It really hurt when she pinched me. She lived with her dad, Charlie who worked all the time as a policeman. Bella spent a lot of time with me at my house when Charlie was working weekends. Bella loved strawberry flavoured lollypops but hated the lemon ones.

We didn't go to the same school but that was okay. I got to see her nearly every weekend.

The week before Bella's party, my mom had taken me to the mall to pick out a birthday present for her. I knew exactly what I wanted to get her. A soft, cuddly bumble bee I'd seen on the television.

Once we found it, Mom let me pick a birthday card too. I found a pink card with yellow flowers on it and a big shiny silver seven. My mom helped me write it but I signed my own name. My mom said I had neat hand writing.

We wrapped the bumble bee in pink paper too. I know pink isn't Bella's favourite colour but Mom said she would like it, with her being a girl. Bella's favourite colour was blue, the same as mine.

When we got to Bella's house, Charlie was on the phone. I think it was about work. Charlie seemed to work a lot. I walked into Bella's living room to see her trying to blow her birthday balloons up. "Happy birthday Bee!" I shouted.

As Bella stood, I noticed she was wearing a party dress, it was yellow. She was wearing black shoes and white socks. Her brown hair was a little longer than it was when I first meet her; she had it tied back with a yellow ribbon. She looked like a bumble bee. I smiled as I handed her birthday stuff to her.

Bella was really happy as she opened her card. Her smile got bigger when we saw the flowers on the front. She then grabbed her present and ripped the paper off. She squealed when she saw the bee. Squeezing it tight, she launched myself at me for a hug. "I'm calling him Edward!" she told everyone in the room; her cheeks going pink again.

I smiled as she let me go. Bella always smelled nice. Today, she smelled of strawberries. There weren't a lot of people at Bella's party. Just me, Alice, Emmett and another girl called Jessica. She went to school with Bella. I didn't like her. She kept smiling at me for no reason.

We played some games. Bella won them all. It was her party so that's okay. We had some stuff to eat; my mom made sandwiches and I brought them over. We sang 'Happy Birthday' to Bella as she made a wish and blew out her candles. Bella seemed a bit sad so after the party had finished, me and Bella sat on the grass in her garden. I was still warm with the sunshine.

"What did you wish for?" I asked, "When you blew your candles out?"

"I wished I could see my mom again" she whispered, looking up to the sky. Bella had never mentioned her mom before.

"Why can't you see your mom?" I asked quietly.

She took a deep breath; "She's in heaven"

I looked over at Bella who was still looking up to the sky. "She was sick, really sick and then… she went to heaven. That's why we came here to live. My dad said this would be a new start for us"

She looked at me; she had little tears running down her pink cheeks. She gave me a sad smile. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"No" I answered. "Pinky promise?" I held out my little finger and linked it with hers. "Pinky promise".

"I'm glad we did come here to live Edward." Bella said. "You're the bestest friend anyone could have."

I put my arm around her shoulders letting her put the side of her head on mine. "I'm sorry about your mom, Bee." I whispered. "But you know you can always share my mom"

"Thank you Edward" We sat still for a minute.

I suddenly jumped to my feet pulling Bella with me. "Come on! Let's play on the swings!" We played in Bella's back yard, talked and laughed until my mom called for me; it was time to go home.

24th December 1989

Santa was coming tonight. I had been a really good boy so I think he was coming to visit my house. For me and Emmett anyway; not sure about Alice. She was really eight now but she still lied before that.

As it was the night before Christmas, my mom and dad always invited friends over for 'some drinks and nibbles'; that's what my mom called it. This year, Bella and Charlie were coming. I was really excited about seeing Bella because I had her Christmas present to give her. Mom said it was too late for Santa to come and get it to deliver so I would have to do it myself.

I sat in our window, watching the snow fall to the ground until I saw car headlights pull into our drive. I was bouncing in my seat; I was so excited. I saw Bella and Charlie quickly get out of Charlie's police car and ran towards the door.

Bella stepped into the room with a box in her hands; wrapped in snowman Christmas paper. She stood in the doorway for a minute looking at our big Christmas tree, all lit up with twinkle lights. Bella's brown hair was now past her shoulders so she looked more like a girl but as it was Bella, I was okay with that. She wore a red dress today with white tights. The dress had snowflake patterns along the bottom.

When she looked away from the Christmas tree, she saw me. She gave me a toothy grin and made her way over to sit next to me. "Happy Christmas Edward" she sang as she handed me the box. The tag said 'You're the best friend anyone could have, Love Bella x'.

I could tell Bella signed her own name. "Why did you put a kiss at the end of your name?" I questioned. She just shook her head at me saying, "Silly Edward." I was confused.

"Thank you?" I said, still confused. Sometimes, I think I will never understand her. Placing the box down, I got up to grab Bella's present from under our tree. Coming to sit back down beside her, I gave her the box me and my mom wrapped earlier. The paper was red with silver stars on it. My tag said, 'To my best friend, Bee'. Bella took the box from me as her eyes lit up with excitement.

"My mom said it was too late for Santa to come and get it, with him being so busy tonight" I said.

Placing the box near her ear, she shook the box. "Don't shake it, they might break" I told her.

"Daddy! Can I open my present from Edward now pleeeeeeeeeeeease?..." Bella looked at Charlie and fluttered her eyelashes.

"No, sorry honey. You need to wait until tomorrow morning" Charlie answered. "That goes for you too, dear" my mom added. We both looked at each other and pouted. "No fair" Bella muttered under her breath.

I stood to put my present under the tree while Bella took hers to Charlie to put somewhere safe. I know she'd love what I picked out for her. She kept talking about these little baby dolls and how you can get all different things to go with them like a little cot and pram. So that's what I told my mom to get her. I wonder what she got me, I thought.

Bella was telling me what she was doing over the holidays when I heard my mom call my name. I looked up to see mom pointing at our piano. I loved playing the piano and was getting better at it. I jumped up, pulling Bella along with me. She caught her foot on the rug though and fell forward onto her knees.

Dropping to my knees, I helped Bella up, "I'm soooooo sorry Bee. I didn't mean to hurt you." Bella got up and rubbed her knee. "It's okay Edward. You know I'm always falling down"

"Yeah" I said weakly. Bella did fall down, a lot. I'm glad my dad's a doctor so he can take care of her cuts, scrapes and bruises. Maybe one day, when I'm a doctor, I can help Bella. That made me smile.

We slowly walked over to the piano where we sat side by side. I got my sheet music out; I'd been practicing for a bit now because I wanted to get this right. I pressed a few keys to check it was okay. Then I started playing 'Jingle Bells'. My mom started to sing knowing what I was playing and then everyone joined in. Apart from Alice, who sat watching the television in the corner of the room. She just rolled her eyes and looked bored. Bella was singing too; she wasn't very good but I didn't tell her that. Once I'd played 'Jingle Bells' a couple of times, I started to play the other Christmas song I had been practicing. My mom made me do it. It was 'Silent Night', my mom's favourite Christmas song ever.

I got to the chorus when I started to sing quietly. A bit after, I realised I was the only one singing so I stopped altogether.

"Oh Edward! That was so good dear, so good." my mom said. Her eyes were twinkling like the fairy lights on our tree. "Yes, well done son" my dad added.

I smiled, "Thank you." I was a bit embarrassed.

"So Edward" Charlie asked "How long have you been playing the piano?"

"Erm, since I was four, I think" I looked at my mom, who was nodding.

"You're really good" Bella whispered.

"Thanks" I smiled shyly. This was the first time Bella had heard me play. But it wouldn't be the last.

1st January 1990

My mom and dad let me, Alice and Emmett stay up until it was New Year's Day of 1990. Emmett fell asleep but I managed to stay awake. So did Alice. It was just us at our house; Bella and Charlie had stayed home. I really missed her. I played with the mirco machines she got me for Christmas all day. They were the best presents, ever.

I remember watching the countdown on the television and the fireworks; they were really awesome. Once the fireworks had stopped, my mom said I need to go to bed.

I woke up later than normal on New Year's Day, probably 'cause I was up late the night before. I put on my new robe and slippers I got for Christmas from my Aunt Janine then I made my way downstairs.

Bella was waiting for me at the kitchen table with a bowl of cornflakes in front of her. She was wearing a blue sweater with a snowman on it. "Morning" she mumbled around her flakes. I scratched my head and rubbed my eyes.

"Hi Bee, what you doing here?"

"Dad had to go catch some baddies so he asked your mom if I could stop here with you for the day" she replied. I smiled, Awesome, a day with Bee I thought.

After breakfast, I got dressed in my really warm winter clothes. Brown cord trousers with a red sweater. Me and Bella got our coats, scarf's, hats and gloves on then we went to play in our backyard in the snow. It had been snowing on and off for the past week. "Let's make a snowman!" I yelled. Bella smiled at me then started to roll the snow into a ball.

I helped her when it got too big for her to do it on her own. Once we got a really big ball that we couldn't roll anymore, we rolled a smaller one for the head.

Bella ran around the yard trying to find some pebbles for our snowman's face until I grabbed two sticks for arms. Once the arms were in, I took off my hat and put it on him. Bella came back with the pebbles and made two eyes, a nose and a smiley mouth. She took her scarf off and added it.

"We need to give him a name" Bella said.

I thought for a minute, and then I knew what he had to be called "Bee-ward!" I yelled.

"That's a silly name. Silly Edward" Bella smiled. I like being silly Edward, I thought, Always will.

"Will you be my best friend forever, Bee?" I asked. Bella smiled again, "Always and forever"

Awwww, Edward and Bella are sweet kids, aren't they? Hope you liked this chapter and if you did (or didn't) let me know by review :)

Next chapter will be a few more years down the line. I'll be posted the next chapter within 2 weeks.

I just want to thank my friend & beta SweetlovinCullen for all her help with this – thanks hun xox