A/N: I am well aware of the fact that I am a horrible person for making you wait so long for this update, but I have an excuse. University exams are starting tomorrow and I need to focus on those. On the upside, once they're over, I can spend the summer writing, hence faster updates which will hopefully make up for my appalling lack of punctuality or structure.

I'd like to thank all of you guys and gals for the lovely reviews, even though I've been such a turd. Anywho, this goes out to all you guys like Skald of Freya, Ashfisher92, Kraven and many others who bothered with this story.

BPOV

The wind moved in a gentle rhythm around me, lifting loose strands of hair and ruffling downy feathers. The sun was just rising upon the horizon, free of the confining clouds that had trapped it so recently. The rock beneath me had long since grown warm from my body heat, and there were no less than three lizards perched on my shoulders, along with one small coyote dozing on my lap.

I wasn't sure of the exact time, but it was early, early enough that it was still cool on the Arizona desert. The movements of the sun and moon had always been of great interest to me and the fact that I had not seen a sunrise since moving to Forks was the reason that I had flown out here in the middle of the night.

The trip wasn't a terribly long one, considering I could out-fly an SR-71 Blackbird, nor was it particularly tiring. It seemed to have a vaguely soporific affect, leaving me feeling well rested and content.

After relaying the events of my date with Alice to my insistent family, I had left my home at about two a.m., touching down on a rocky outcropping far from human sight at three a.m... Seeing as it was night, thus fairly cold, I had been immediately set upon by overly-friendly lizards who wanted to use me as an impromptu space-heater.

The three lizards, which I had since dubbed Buddy, Frank and Abbey, had turned out to be great company, although Frank's tendency to lick my ear was becoming a bit strange. The small coyote, Minnie, had arrived about a half an hour ago, crawling into my lap without preamble and curling up with her bushy tail over her face. The sound of her soft snores broke the still-morning silence.

As I watched, the sun finally crested the horizon, sending brilliant rays to bathe my new companions and I. Minnie blinked open her large brown eyes, glancing around in apparent confusion before resting her head on her paws and gazing up at me lazily.

I tipped my head back and revelled in the feeling of the sun on my skin, the gentle warmth that I had come to miss in my new dreary home. Not that my previous homes had much sun either, but the clouds weren't so dark there, nor the air so damp.

I was set to be at the Cullen house in about- I glanced at my watch- two hours and my last minute trip was my attempt to calm my raging nerves.

It wasn't so much the sunlight that had accomplished this, rather, thoughts of seeing Alice again had ceased my worries while at the same time, made my heart beat pleasantly fast. Finally the term 'butterflies in your stomach' was no longer an abstract notion.

I scratched Minnie under her chin, causing her to stretch out her head to allow me more access. "I'm really falling for this one, girl," I sighed. "Granted, so far she's been the only one, but I highly doubt that that will change anytime soon."

I briefly thought about what it would be like to be with anyone other than Alice and actually managed to feel a twinge of revulsion and an overwhelming desire to shut down that line of thought. This prompted my mind to go back to Jesse's comment about supernatural beings and their tendencies to fall fast and hard for their mates. Shape-shifters had their imprints, vampires their mate-bond, so did that mean I had something like that too? Or was the fact that I had only ever been attracted to Alice a result of incredibly high standards on my part?

It was times like these that knowing my birth parents would come in handy. Not to mention during puberty. Those were some crazy times.

Maybe it had something to do with my recent behaviour. Clare had noticed that I was sleeping more than usual, not to mention the fact that I'd gotten really violent with those thugs and had almost slapped Jessica. For my entire life, I had been a very calm person, slow to anger and more prone to soothing conversation than violence.

Sure, I had slightly regretted going all 'Avenging Angel' on those guys, no matter how much they deserved it, but getting into a fight with Paul had been...satisfying. Those men couldn't defend themselves against me, Paul could, which meant that I didn't have any guilt over the matter.

Was I becoming more violent, or was it just because my emotions were going haywire?

"Ugh, I hate introspection," I muttered. "Something similar did happen during puberty. It's probably just hormones, perfectly normal. For once."

Frank chose that moment to make another swipe at my ear, so I decided that I should probably head back.

"Okay fella's, rise and shine." Reaching around, I picked up two lizards, Buddy and Abbey, placing them gently on a rock near my head. Frank decided to be difficult and pull a Sanderson, hooking his tiny claws into my shirt to hold on.

I sighed, taking extra care to pull them out before picking him up. "Let's not make this more difficult than it already is, Frank." I placed him on the rock with the others, all three of them staring at me. Minnie placed both paws on my chest, licking my nose once before walking off my lap and sitting down on her haunches. I patted her head and stood up, taking a few steps away.

"Bye guys," I said, unfurling my wings and propelling myself into the air, waves of dust and sand rising from where I stood. The rocky outcropping as well as the animals who still sat there grew rapidly smaller the higher I went. A sound like a thunderclap split the silence as I accelerated fast enough to break the sound barrier, a circular disk of white left in the air far behind me.

The sun beat down on my back as I flew quickly towards home. I didn't have to worry about a human spotting me, as I'd appear as less than a blur to them, so I could enjoy the sun before the clouds blocked it once again.

By the time I touched down in my back garden, my eyes were half-lidded with contentment and my nerves were all but gone.

Flying. The poor people's valium.

"Bella, it's about time you got back. You have to eat something before going to the Cullens, you don't want to keep your lady waiting," Clare called from the kitchen, the sounds of pots and pans clanging showing that she was once again rearranging things.

I danced into the room in high spirits, kissing my mother on the cheek in greeting before deftly plucking an apple from the well-stocked basket. "Good morning all," I sang, taking a healthy bite from the fresh fruit.

Micheal gave me an appraising glance from his seat, folding the newspaper in his lap. "Someone's in a happy mood today."

I sat down sideways on one of the chairs, giving my wings a little ruffle to get them comfortable. "And why shouldn't I be? It's a beautiful day, I'm surrounded by my beautiful family and I will shortly be on my way to see my beautiful girlfriend."

Micheal laughed, tossing the paper onto the table beside him and placing his forearms on his knees. "I knew it would be about Alice. That little pixie has really done a number on you, hasn't she?"

I thought back to last night, holding Alice in my arms as we soared over Forks, the smile on her face as she pressed herself closer. "That she has."

"Well I'm happy for you Bella, you deserve someone special in your life and from what Clare tells me, Alice is perfect for you."

Feeling a random surge of emotion, I hopped up and threw my arms around him. "Thanks Dad," I said into his neck, smiling when he smoothed my hair down, my wings making it difficult for him to return the hug.

"You're welcome, Scout. Now hurry up and get ready, you have to impress that girl of yours."

I kissed him quickly on the cheek, his permanent stubble tickling my lips, before zipping up the stairs and into my room. Quickly disrobing, I made my way into the bathroom where the sound of purring and a small heartbeat drew my attention to the towel rack. Sanderson was stretched out on his back, paws tucked into his chest, blissful expression on his little face. "Great, now I have hairy towels," I grumbled, lips twitching as I turned on the shower and hopped in, enjoying the warm spray as it hit my skin. Cleaning my wings wasn't exactly necessary, as when they dematerialized, any dirt or water didn't go with them, leaving them completely fresh whenever I took them out. It was also pretty difficult trying to manoeuvre in a shower stall with them, so I quickly sent them back into the ether, a flash of heat telling me that they had taken on tattoo form.

God, was I ever thankful that I could do that. I mean, flying is great and I don't know how I'd be able to go on without it, but my ring didn't work when my wings were out and a supernaturally beautiful, winged girl would definitely attract attention in most walks of life.

I stayed in for as long as I could, the steady stream of water trying to lull me into a doze. One thing about me is that while I don't sleep often, I could fall asleep in the damndest places. Including standing up, as my family discovered one summer afternoon when I was six. It was strangely comfortable.

By the time I made my way out of the shower, Sanderson was awake and sitting in the sink, cooling off from the steam in the air. Why he didn't just leave the room, I don't know.

I decided to forgo the hairy towels and instead upped my temperature until steam rose and I was once again dry, walking into my room on fleet feet. My next stop was my wardrobe, taking out the clothes I had picked out in my brief 'Oh crap I'm gonna meet Alice's family' panic. It was nothing special, just dark jeans and a pressed white shirt. I had always been a pretty easygoing person when it came to fashion, so I thought going all out wouldn't be truthful to who I was. Still, that didn't mean that I wanted to look like a slob.

My hair, the very embodiment of low-maintenance, fell in soft waves around my face and down my back, without even the need to brush. I could never understand how some humans could stand in front of a mirror every morning with a slew of beauty products to administer. I got impatient just getting dressed.

My ring was resting on the bedside table where I had deposited it upon returning from my flight. As soon as I slipped it on, I felt the familiar unpleasant tingle settle onto me. The strands of brilliant white hair on my shoulder darkened to a deep brown and my mask was once again firmly in place.

With twenty minutes left to get to the Cullen's house, I walked down the stairs, cat on my heels. Immediately, he shot off to his dish, spying the food that Clare had placed within.

The woman in question turned to me with a smile. "Have fun, and...be careful." Her tone was cautious. While she had met, scanned and accepted Alice, she had yet to meet the rest of her family and both she and Micheal were a tiny bit worried.

I wrapped her in a quick hug, briefly wondering why I was being so touchy-feely all of a sudden. "Would you two relax, I'll be fine."

She returned the hug with enthusiasm. "Hey, we would worry even if they weren't vampires and you weren't an angel, it's a parents prerogative."

I rolled my eyes, pulling away and walking backwards to the door. "As long as you don't do something crazy to 'test Alice's commitment'. I still haven't forgiven you for Dale." Without waiting for a reply, which would most likely be a half-assed attempt at explaining away their actions, I shot out the door and was in the car in a second and officially on my way to meet the famous Cullen Clan.

APOV

"Okay, so do you all understand?" I asked, looking at my family with a serious expression.

Edward sighed from his spot on the couch. "Yes Alice. Don't badger Bella about what she is, you'll tell us eventually. Don't bring up any of your more embarrassing past stories and don't act like asses. You've only told us about twenty times."

I sighed, glancing out the window again. "I know and I'm sorry, I just want this to go well."

"And it will go well, Short Stack, Bella will love us and we'll love Bella. If for no other reason than that she makes you happy," Emmett stated, coming over and wrapping his arm around me in a hug.

I promptly snuggled into my big bear of a brother, never being able to resist one of his hugs. "Thanks Emmy."

Edward snickered. "Jeeze Emmett, you're losing your manliness by the litre. Emmy? Ha!"

I released Emmett as Rosalie came over and drew her mate into a scorching kiss, drawing away after about ten whole seconds. "I love your soft side. You are definitely getting some tonight," she stated seductively, licking her lips slowly.

Emmett grinned and looked at Edward smugly. My telepathic brother immediately looked over at the still-silent Jasper hopefully, smirk sliding off his face as his mate shook his head. "Sorry Edward, you're on your own tonight."

"What? But why?" It came out as a whine and Emmett had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

Jasper closed the book that he was reading and casually glanced at Edward. "Well, I agree with Rosalie. Emmett is very secure in his male prowess to be able to give hugs like that. In fact, I think that you should take a page out of his book."

Edwards brows drew down in confusion. "You want me to hug Alice?" Jasper nodded, tiny smile on his face. "But why?"

"Because you won't be getting any until you do, I know for a fact that Alice won't make it easy for you and I'm bored, I could use the entertainment." He went back to his book, but not before sending out a concentrated wave of lust toward Edward, causing him to jerk in his seat.

"Are you going to be doing that all day?" Edward asked.

"Yes."

"That's not fair."

"Never said it was."

"I'll go crazy. And Alice is too small and fast to catch!"

He turned a page. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

I felt a vision tug at my head and relaxed slightly to focus on it.

Edward took a flying leap off the stair case, arms open wide, missing future me by inches as I danced out of his way. I smirked at him before blurring out of the room.

Edward ran out the door after me, crazed look in his eyes. "For the love of God Alice, please HUG ME!"

I came back to myself, laughing hysterically, the bewildered look on Edwards face showing me that he still couldn't read my mind, something that I had been enjoying for several hours. The knowledge that it was because of Bella's feelings for me made me feel decidedly giddy.

I was still snickering by the time Esme and Carlisle came home from the grocery store a few minutes later. They had wanted to get some things in case Bella got hungry and had decided to brave the aisles of human food together, presumably in case some kind of homicidal midget erupted from the canned food section wielding a deadly weapon in the form of Spam.

The food only required one trip to bring in, as I had told them of Bella's small appetite, as well as her vegetarian status, something which had brought several chuckles from those family members within hearing distance.

"Alright, we got fruit, vegetables, bread, juice, dairy products, free range eggs and varying types of pretzels," Esme stated, looking strangely proud of the success of her expedition. I knew Bella would blush at knowing they had gone out of their way for her, but Esme had wanted to do everything in her power to make sure Bella felt welcome with us. I had spent a portion of the night telling her and Rosalie about my date last night, leaving out the angelic side of things, and Esme practically spent the entire time cooing. She was a hopeless romantic.

I smiled at her, pleased that she was taking such an interest. Of course, I knew before I had ever met Bella that she would take an interest, that was just Esme, but it was still nice to see. In fact, all my family were going to make an effort, Emmett had even been persuaded to wear a shirt for the occasion, something that he usually avoided like the bubonic plague.

"Thanks Esme. I'm not even sure she'll want to eat anything, but it's better to have something and not need it than need something and not have it," I said absently, looking at one of the items curiously. "Hey, what are those fruity things? I've never seen them before." I paused momentarily. "They are fruit, right?"

Esme looked at the oddly shaped things with a sheepish expression. "Back when I actually ate food they didn't have these exotic foods and I didn't want to bother the salesperson."

I looked at her blankly. "You don't know, do you?"

She took a breath and scratched the back of her neck. "Not really, no." Almost in unison, our heads moved to regard the mystery objects. They looked like tiny little purple pumpkins.

Our intense concentration was broken by the sound of a nearby car engine and considering the fact that our house was in the back end of nowhere it could only be Bella. A wave of excitement welled up in me and I quickly shot into the front hall, Esme following close behind. The rest of my family lined up behind me, unable to hide their blatant curiosity.

We stood there for a few moments before Emmett piped up. "Um, guys, wouldn't it be kinda weird for Bella to come in the door to see all of us just standing here staring at her?"

We looked at each other in silent contemplation.

"Yeah, you guys should go sit down or something," I said, nodding. Jasper, Edward, Emmett and Rosalie all walked into the living room, the tiny whine a telltale sign that Emmett had turned on the Xbox.

It wasn't long before the car could be heard moving onto gravel, Bella's unique heartbeat was absent due to the fact that it was actually almost silent, only being heard if she was in the same room as me. Next came the sound of an engine being abruptly cut off, keys clattering as they were removed and slipped into a pocket, the door opening then closing shortly after followed by the almost silent footsteps of the ever quiet Bella.

BPOV

I had seen the Cullen's house before, when Alice had come on the trip to Port Angeles only a few days before, yet it didn't lose any of its beauty this time around. The windows were still clear enough to be an unknown obstacle for most birds, the wood was clean and well cared for and the tiles of the roof were free of lichen. Basically, it looked brand-spankin' new.

It was obvious that they could hear me, so I wasn't at all surprised when the door opened just as I was walking up the stairs. The small shape behind the door suddenly launching itself at me was less expected, but very welcome. Alice's bright, sweet scent wafted around me as she collided with me bodily. I staggered back a step, narrowly avoiding being knocked flat on my ass. My arms went around her automatically and I couldn't hold in my laugh at her enthusiasm, a laugh that was almost immediately silenced by her lips on mine. We fell into a natural rhythm, her arms coming around my neck as her tongue ran across my bottom lip in a request for entrance, which I happily granted. My entire world narrowed down to the person in my arms and for those not so few seconds, I promptly forgot where I was. That is until a polite cough caused me to pull away slightly and look up. Right into the amused faces of Alice's parents.

Now, the natural response for me in this situation would be to blush like mad and start stuttering, but for some reason, I couldn't find it in me to be embarrassed. Being the girlfriend of someone as amazing as Alice was something to be darn proud of and to my surprise, I found myself smiling brightly at the two.

I had seen Esme before in passing when the girls from school and I were picking Alice up. She was a kind looking woman, the type to be ready with a brightly coloured Band-Aid and a lollipop to any child with the ever present scraped knee. The fact that she had movie star good looks should have made that a strange image, but it didn't.

The man beside her, the father of the household and the original vegetarian vampire, however, I had yet to meet. He was fairly tall, just shy of six feet, with short blond hair and golden eyes that I could only describe as wise. His whole demeanour was one of quiet intellect, the kind of man you'd find sitting in a well-stocked study in front of a roaring fire, reading a thick, leather-bound book, with half-moon glasses on his face. His physical youth didn't detract from this image at all.

Alice tucked in to my side, her right arm around my waist as my left arm encircled her shoulders. I glanced down at her spiky head, her eyes glancing up at my through her thick lashes.

"Miss me, did you?" I asked in a teasing tone.

"Like you wouldn't believe," she replied, eyes locked on my lips.

Unfortunately, before either of us could resume our enjoyable greeting, a less than polite cough emanated from further in the house. I arched an eyebrow at Alice as she pulled me towards her waiting family.

"Bella, this is Esme and this is Carlisle, Esme, Carlisle, this is Bella," she stated, complete with hand gestures.

Esme automatically stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, reminding my acutely of when I was still an infant and I used to practically live in Clare's arms. She smelt like flowers, natural and sort of sweet.

"Hello, Bella. It's lovely to finally meet you," she said, holding me at arm's length to get a good look at me. Her eyes flickered to Alice and she smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too, Esme and I must say, you have a lovely home. Alice tells me you designed it yourself?"

Her smile widened even further. "Thank you, Bella. And yes, I did design it. It's a hobby of mine."

I whistled appreciatively. "Some hobby."

Carlisle came forward next, holding out his hand which I immediately took. His grip was powerful, yet gentle at the same time. I could see his eyes widen a fraction of an inch at my temperature, his eyes lighting up with curiosity. Alice had told me that her pseudo father loved mysteries, but would never invade someone's privacy. He wouldn't badger me with questions until I felt comfortable answering them, something that I was grateful for.

"I share my wife's sentiments in that it is a pleasure to meet you at last. Alice has told us a lot about you."

I blame years of living with Jesse for my immediate response. "Whatever she said, it's a lie, I didn't do it and she has no proof." Thankfully they assumed that I was joking, if the bark of a laugh from the house was anything to go by.

He released my hand, chuckling. "Don't worry, she only had good things to say about you."

"Well, in that case, it's an honour to meet you. You're something of a legend in our house." At his raised eyebrow, I continued. "Without you, my family would never have known that there was another way to live."

"It always brings me joy to know that other vampires choose to live as I do and save innocent human lives."

Before any of us could continue, a booming voice called out. "Oh, for God's sake, would you guys hurry up, I wanna meet Bella!"

Alice laughed and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the house. The inside was just as impressive as the outside, full of dark wood and marble, but stopping just short of ostentatious and remaining on the side of tasteful. Esme really had a talent for this kind of thing and I automatically thought that she would get on well with Micheal. He may not build houses, but he was an amazing stone carver and they would have lots to talk about.

The living room came next, a beautifully styled room with dark, hard-wood floors, cream walls with a brown border, dark leather furniture and in the corner, on a raised dais, a beautiful baby grand piano. I absently wondered if Alice played.

I had seen them all at school, the huge, muscle-bound Emmett, the blond bombshell Rosalie, the scar covered Jasper and Edward, he of the gravity defying hair, but I had only had a conversation, however brief, with Edward.

Emmett promptly jumped up, not giving me any time to react before he pulled me away from Alice and wrapped me in a huge hug, lifting me clear off the ground.

Now, I wasn't the tallest of people, only about five six with shoes and I was very slim and compact. I also weighed about sixty pounds, due to the fact that my bones were much lighter, but much stronger than a human's.

Emmett, on the other hand, was a living tree. I was well on my way to worrying about whether or not I would need a map and compass to find my way out of his arms when he held me up by a gentle grip on my shoulders, which were swallowed up by his huge hands. I was reminded of that scene in the Lion King, when Simba was held up by Rafiki as I was about four feet off the floor.

"Hi Bella, I'm Emmett, your new best friend," he stated, still holding me aloft.

"Wow, you sure do move fast, you've known me for all of three minutes," I replied, my higher vantage point allowing me to see the others without Emmett's mass in the way.

He grinned. "I can already tell you're awesome." He blinked suddenly and leaned in closer, taking a deep breath. "Wow, this close you really do smell great."

I paused for a minute, blinking. "I'm not really sure how to respond to that."

"Emmett, put the girl down," Edward said in mock exasperation, obviously used to his brother's displays.

My feet finally touched the floor and Edward greeted me with a hand shake. "Bella, it's nice to see you again."

I smiled sheepishly. "You too, although I feel I should apologise for my behaviour last time."

He waved it off. "No matter, we're all entitled to our secrets. Though I must admit, not being able to read yours or your families mind was an experience for me, albeit a good one. It gets tiring knowing what everyone is thinking all the time."

"I can see how that would get to be a pain after the novelty wore off," I said, not being able to imagine reading everyone's inner most thoughts day after day.

He rolled his eyes. "You have no idea, especially being surrounded by people like Jessica and Lauren all day. I now know more about Justin Bieber than I ever wanted to know before."

I laughed at the expression on his face. The sound of feet scuffling on wood prompted me to glance to the side, seeing Jasper moving toward me slowly. His nostrils flared, like he was testing the air before he looked satisfied and closed the distance between us.

He held his hand out like Edward had, but when I took it, he placed his other hand over mine. Looking me in the eye, he took a deep breath. "Bella, I would just like to thank you again for what you did the other day. You saved me from making a horrible mistake."

"It's no problem, Jasper, I'm just glad I was there," I stated quietly, never being good with receiving thanks.

"We're all glad you were there. Had you not been, at the very best our secret would have been revealed and at the worst, that poor girl would have died," Carlisle cut in, looking every bit as grateful as he sounded.

I blushed slightly, deciding to change the subject. Seeing as Rosalie was the only one that I had yet to greet, I stepped forward and held my hand out. "Hello Rosalie, it's nice to meet you."

She looked from my hand to me and I could tell that she was sizing me up. After a second, she seemed to decide something and reached out her own hand to shake mine. "Likewise, Bella." Her voice was quiet, but not unkind. She had always seemed cold and distant, even bitchy, to the humans at the school, but I guessed that was just a mask that she put on so as not to get to close to them.

As soon as I released her hand, Alice didn't waste any more time returning to my side and my arm wrapped around her shoulders without conscious thought.

"Awww, you too make such a cute couple," Emmett cooed. Yes, the giant tree-man actually cooed.

I chuckled. "Any couple with Alice in it would invariably be cute."

Alice grinned up at me. "Charmer." She looked at her family. "You can have her in a while, I want to show her my room." I couldn't help but smile at that, it was like something a little kid did, wanting to show off their room to their new friend.

Everyone looked at Emmett, as though waiting for something. He waved his hand indifferently. "Nah, that one's just too easy, I have my standards ya know."

"That's a first," Alice quipped, once again grabbing my hand and hauling me up the stairs. She never seemed to want to wait for anything, always in a hurry. The second floor had just as much windows as the first, in many different shapes and sizes. Light wood made up the floor of the hall, leading off into several branches and doors. She led me down the main hall until we reached the door at the end, made of a thick, dark oak.

"You're very eager to get me into your bedroom, is there something that I should know?" I laughed at the embarrassed look on her face. Usually, I was the one to get flustered in a conversation.

She mock scowled at me. "Get your mind out of the gutter, I only wanted to show you the fantastic place that is my room."

I leaned down until my lips were right beside her ear. "Well, if that's all, I can't say I'm not disappointed," I whispered, thoroughly enjoying the way she froze slightly and gulped audibly before opening the door to her room and pulling me inside. She closed the door by pressing my body against it and pulling my head down for a kiss. I happily complied, knowing that I would never get tired of kissing Alice no matter how long I lived. Her lips seemed to get softer every time, her scent sweeter and I could finally understand what all the fuss was about relationships. They were freaking fantastic.

Alice's room, which I had yet to actually see, was getting steadily warmer and I knew that my body temperature was rising again. God, if this happened from just kissing, what would happen if we ever went further. That thought only served to make my temperature shoot up another couple of degrees.

I pulled away from her, panting, trying to calm myself down before I spontaneously combusted. Something that could, theoretically, happen.

"Okay, I have a confession to make. I had an ulterior motive to showing you my room," Alice gasped, her bodies lack of need for air forgotten for the moment.

"You don't hear me complaining." I looked over her shoulder, noting the various sketches lining her walls, the queen-sized four-poster bed, the double door closet that I suspected held an entire clothing stores worth of outfits and the yellow glass rose proudly displayed on her dressing table.

Alice followed my gaze and smiled. "I've been meaning to thank you for that. It's beautiful."

"Would it be cheesy if I said 'a beautiful rose for a beautiful lady'?"

She laughed, golden eyes twinkling. "Yes, yes it would, but I appreciate the sentiment. And I have to ask, where did you get it, it must have cost a fortune?"

"Ah...I, um, sorta made it," I mumbled. Well, there went my non-nervous streak...

Her eyes widened comically. "You made it. How?"

"Well, sand and fire equals glass. When it comes to wood or stone carving I have the ability of a three year old, my painting leaves a lot to be desired and I'm okay with drawing, but give me some glass or metal and I'm sorted."

"Huh, so you do have some flaws. And here I thought that you were perfect." Her tone was teasing, but there was an undercurrent of truth to it. A lot of people thought that angels were perfect at everything and while I was good at a lot of things, I wasn't infallible.

"Nobody is perfect."

She brushed a lock of hair from my face. "Well, you come pretty damn close."

Our eyes locked once again and I was just about to lean in to resume my new favourite pastime, when Esme's voice called up from downstairs. "Bella, would you like something to eat?"

I glanced at Alice, who shrugged. "They went food shopping." Despite the apple that I had had this morning, I found myself a bit peckish, something that was fairly unusual. Oh well, my appetite had increased during puberty too, I'll just blame it on that.

We both walked down the stairs, finding Emmett and Jasper locked in a heated battle on the Xbox, Edward and Rosalie looking on. I knew that they had heard everything, and I do mean everything, but they politely refrained from bringing it up, although the effort seemed to be causing Emmett some distress.

Alice led me past them into the kitchen, which was small compared to the rest of the rooms, but then again, it was only there for show. On top of the table in the centre of the room, was a collection of foods.

"Oh, Esme, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble, it-"

She held up a hand, cutting me off. "Now Bella, it's my hope that you spend more time here, so I wanted to be prepared. Now, could you do me a favour and tell me what these are?"

I looked at the small objects in her hand and felt a smile of delight cross my face. "Surinam cherries! I love Surinam cherries. Where on earth did you find them in Forks?" I adored every kind of fruit, but I had my favourites and one of them was before me right now. I hadn't had them in about two years.

Esme didn't speak for a moment, seemingly surprised by my reaction. "So it's a fruit then?"

Alice laughed and plucked them out of her mother's hand, tossing them to me. "I think we can assume it's a fruit."

I happily popped one in my mouth, enjoying the sweet taste. "Hmmmm," I hummed.

Alice snickered at my expression. "You remind me of that baby in Ice Age when he's eating that watermelon."

I swallowed the fruit in my mouth. "Hey, that kid had great taste, watermelons are like little slices of heaven."

Her eyes glittered as she held up a cherry to my lips for me to eat. I purposefully let my lips brush against her fingers, watching her as she shivered. "You'd know all about that."Alice stretched up on her toes and would have kissed me if not for the interruption of her brother.

"Hey Bella, come on and play some games with us," Emmett called, sounding for all the world like a little kid.

Esme handed me a couple more cherries with a smile and I thanked her before walking in the direction of Emmett's voice.

I walked in and sat down on one of the armchairs, pulling Alice onto my lap where she promptly snuggled into my side. I loved how cuddly she was.

Emmett tossed me one of the controllers and resumed his seat beside Jasper and Edward. "You play any Halo before?" He inquired, pulling up the menu that would allow him to change it from three-player to four.

"Occasionally," I said, trying to focus on the game and not on the delightful pixie on top of me. It wasn't going very well.

"Okay, you're with Jasper and I'll be with Edward," he said excitedly, prompting me to pay more attention. I was wearing blue armour, Jasper in red, while Emmett and Edward were in the customary green.

Two hours later I was sitting bolt upright in my chair, Alice somehow curling comfortably around me, staring at the screen with wide-eyed concentration. "Jasper, run! He's on your tail!"

"I'm trying, he's too fast! I need some help down here," he said through gritted teeth, mashing buttons furiously while dodging weapons fire from an over-enthusiastic Emmett.

"Oh, you guys are going down!" The burly vampire crowed, following the fleeing Jasper down the hill.

"Wait Emmett, don't! It's a trap!" Edward yelled, but too late. He watched in horror as my avatar popped out from behind a boulder and tossed a frag grenade at him. Jasper took the opportunity to turn completely around, drop into a crouch and start shooting the hell out of the now floundering Emmett. He went down, his teammate too far away to help him.

"Nooooooo!" He cried dramatically, opening his eyes just in time to see Edward go down from a sniper shot from Jasper. "Nooooooooooooooooo!"

"Ha! Victory is ours. Maybe next time, you won't be so cocky, Emmett," I taunted, reaching over to exchange a high-five with Jasper, who still somehow managed to look stoic despite the smile on his face.

Edward patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Don't worry man, I'm sure Rose will console you," he stated, smirk on his face despite being so thoroughly defeated. The vampire in question raised an eyebrow at him, then pointedly looked at Jasper. Edward immediately twitched violently in his seat, swinging around to stare at his mate, who smiled in return.

"Oh come on, Jazz, cut me some slack here," he whined, thoroughly confusing me.

Alice giggled and burrowed further into me as Edward sent a glare in her direction. I decided that not asking what that was about was my best option.

Alice placed her hand on my cheek and turned me to face her, looking at me curiously. "I can't believe that I didn't notice it before."

My eyebrows drew downward in confusion. "Notice what?"

"What a nerd you are," she said, as though it were obvious.

"Hey! I'm cool," I said in mock protest, trying my best to look offended.

Emmett scoffed. "Dude, you just spent the last two hours playing Halo."

"So did you," I retorted.

"Yeah, but I'm a muscle-bound stud. Have you ever heard of a muscle-bound nerd? No? I thought not, because it doesn't exist. My sheer manliness prevents me from being one, not to mention having a hottie for a wife."

I looked between him and Rosalie with interest. "You two are married?"

"Yeah, like twenty times," Alice said, making gentle circles on my neck with her finger. It was an extremely pleasant sensation.

"Well, that's nice. Renewing your vows and all that." Her hand moved from my neck to my collar bone, tracing the dips and curves found there.

"Yes, it is nice," she said slowly. Our gazes locked on each other's lips and I was about to swoop in to steal a kiss when a loud 'meow' broke the silence.

"Damnit!" I yelled. Three times in a row I was stopped from kissing her. Did these things wait until the worst possible times to-? Wait, a meow?

I snapped my head around, not all that surprised to see Sanderson ambling in to the Cullen's sitting room. None of us had paid any attention to the animal sounds outside, but we should have, seeing as animals didn't come in to any kind of contact with vampires unless in strange circumstances. Like right now. How in the hell did he get here?

He let out another long, drawn out meow before walking over to the couch and butting his head against it.

Esme and Carlisle came down the stairs to see what was going on and I couldn't help but laugh at the looks on all their faces.

"Um...," Emmett mumbled, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Sorry, that's my cat, Sanderson. He must have followed me here," I said, slightly embarrassed.

Rosalie frowned, not taking her eyes off of the small feline. "How do you have a cat? You live with vampires."

At the sound of her voice, Sanderson looked up at her and ambled over to the love seat she was stretched out on. She regarded his approach warily, while the other Cullen's looked on in undisguised fascination. Remembering Alice's reaction to the friendly cat, I realised that this was probably the first time any of them had been around an animal that they didn't see as food in decades, even centuries.

"Animals like me and I trained Sanderson to not be afraid of vegetarian vampires so he could stay with us," I replied, unable to stop the smile from forming on my face at her confused expression.

He reached the seat and gazed up at her, little nose twitching, before putting his paws up on the fabric and kneading it gently, a purr forming deep in his chest. If her expression was confused before, it was downright shocked when he launched himself up onto her chest, butting his face into hers in a cat greeting.

The blond vampire jerked her head away from his. "What's it doing?"

I swallowed the laugh building in my throat and answered her in a tremulous voice. "He's saying hi. He likes you."

I tried to hold it in, but when he turned around three times withershins on her chest, before curling up and tucking his face into her neck, I let loose a gasping laugh that was almost soundless in its intensity. Feeling Alice shaking beside me only made it worse and had she not been sitting on me, I would have doubled over.

Rosalie gingerly placed her hands around the happily sleeping cat and made an attempt to pull him off, but he had already hooked his claws in and refused to let go. "How do I get him off?"

The rest of Alice's family seemed to have moved on from their shock, onto amusement at Rosalie's predicament.

"It's best if you just leave him there, even if you do manage to get him off, he'll just keep coming back," I managed to say, finally having gotten my laughter under control. Alice wasn't so lucky and buried her face into my neck to muffle it, failing miserably.

Rosalie scowled at her. "This isn't funny, Alice." Sanderson's purring intensified and I realised why he had been drawn to her.

"He likes your voice."

"What?"

I gestured to the cat. "Your voice, he likes it, that's why he's sleeping on your neck."

The blond vampire seemed at a total loss as to what to do. She obviously wasn't used to handling something so fragile and she seemed reluctant to hurt him, so she just sort of lay there, eyes looking at the small animal as best she could.

"How did he follow you here, you came in a car," Carlisle inquired, tearing his eyes away from the downright bizarre sight before him.

I shrugged. "Our houses aren't that far away from each other and he associates the scent of vampires with family, so I guess he just followed that." Pausing for a moment, I regarded my pet. "In retrospect, it's probably a bad thing. I'd hate for him to try to make friends with a vampire that wouldn't have any qualms about killing him."

"It's amazing that he's going against his nature and seems so comfortable here," Esme spoke up, glancing at the cat with obvious affection.

Rosalie frowned. "Well, don't just stare. Put on a movie or something while I wait for him to get off of me." She shifted slightly to the side, obviously hoping that he would slide off. Instead, he merely crawled forward, staying on top of her. A more determined cat you will never find, he never seemed to realise that not everyone wanted him to sit on them.

Edward was the first to get out of his funk, walking over to the cabinet and pulling out a movie at random, frequently casting glances back at the two.

It was about a half an hour into the movie, The Dark Knight, before people stopped paying attention to the cat, seemingly accepting his presence as the weird occurrence that it was. Well, everyone except Rosalie.

"I gotta admit, Batman sounds like he has throat cancer in this movie," Emmett stated, sitting upside down on the couch with his feet hanging over the end.

"I think he's trying to sound intimidating," I offered, completely relaxed myself. Movie night was something that my family did frequently and the Cullen's had been really accepting so far that I was happy where I was. Alice stretched fully on top of me with her head on my shoulder didn't hurt either.

"Well, based on how much the Joker laughs at him, he's failing pretty badly," Edward put in. He had moved closer to his own mate and they were now both curled up together. I had to admit, I was surprised. In school, he had always seemed so proper, but now he was acting like a teenager. I suppose it made a little bit of sense. People began acting like adults because society expected them to, but if society was always expecting you to act young and you spent so long every day pretending to be, then after a while the act you put on became who you were. The Cullen teens were a strange mixture of old-fashioned adults and modern day teenagers.

"The Joker's insane, he laughs at everybody," Alice pointed out, going back to tracing my collar bone. Her cold finger on my skin was a pleasant contrast.

"Good point, but I still think that he sounds ridiculous," he continued.

"Speaking of sounding ridiculous, how's that two face guy talking at all. He should sound like a zombie with a wound like that," I said, brow furrowed as I thought of how long it would take for him to make any kind of sense.

"Meh, it's a comic book movie, they don't have to make sense," Emmett shrugged.

We sat there for several hours, watching various movies and just talking. I found Alice's family to be very nice people, easy for me to get along with and despite their curiosity, not one of them asked me any questions about what I was.

Emmett turned out to be incredibly funny, narrating along to several of the scenes, reducing the rest of us to fits of laughter, Edward was quieter, but revealed a talent for impersonations that he used to great effect. Jasper didn't say anything about any of the movies, but scoffed frequently during Cold Mountain, prompting several digs in the ribs from Emmett. We were reaching the end of the long film when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Rosalie was absently stroking Sanderson. That cat could warm the cockles of anyone's heart. She saw me looking and promptly schooled her features, causing me to grin and look back at the screen.

Even Carlisle and Esme joined us, choosing a seat of their own closest to the hall and I often saw Esme smiling over at Rosalie, or at Alice and I.

And Alice herself was an incredibly sneaky pixie, stealing kisses or light caresses when no one else was looking, or even when they were. I had been subjected to Emmett's brand of humour a lot during the day.

Esme had plied me with more cherries and Alice had decided to hold onto them, slipping one past my lips every now and then, watching with rapt fascination as I ate them.

"You know, if you guys do that in school, you're gonna break a lot of hearts and cause a lot of boners." Emmett's voice broke me out of my Alice-induced distraction.

"Emmett!" Esme scolded, looking aghast at her son's phrasing.

He held his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I was just saying. Besides, we don't even know if they're gonna keep it under wraps or not."

My brows drew down in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you about that," Alice said, turning me to look at her. "No one at school knows about us and while I'm perfectly fine with it, I was wondering whether or not you want our relationship to be public."

I looked at her closely, seeing the uncertainty in her gaze. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, I mean, public opinion and all that, I didn't know if that would bother you." At my obviously blank look, she continued. "Not everyone is okay with same sex relationships. It could cause some problems."

It finally clicked in my head what she meant. "Ohhhhhh, you mean homophobia?" She nodded. "I forgot about that. But to answer your question, no, I'm not bothered if people know. If they have a problem, then they can live with it."

She automatically perked up. "Really?"

"So you have no issue with it?" Emmett cut in.

I gave him a look that clearly said I questioned his sanity. "Dude, I'm dating Alice Cullen. I'll have a hard enough time not swaggering into school, let alone letting some close minded people bother me."

The rest of them chuckled, while Alice drew me into a deep kiss. "I really am lucky to have you."

"Likewise," I replied, doing my best to tone down the heat caused by her ardent display of affection.

The sound of a phone ringing upstairs caused heads to swivel and look up. Carlisle got to his feet. "That's the office phone," he said by way of explanation and blurred upstairs, the sound of a door shutting followed, then silence. I glanced at Alice quizzically.

"The office is sound proof so Carlisle can talk to and about patients with as much privacy as possible."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," I said, glancing at Edward and wondering if he could still 'hear' Carlisle.

He saw me looking and smiled. "I focus on not reading him when he's up there."

I nodded once and waited with the others for him to return. When he did, he had a strange expression on his face. "That was the La Push wolves."

Rosalie growled and even I was surprised when Sanderson didn't bolt. From the way he snuggled closer, he enjoyed the vibrations. "What do those mutts want?"

"Sam called to inform us that Jacob and Billy are on their way here, against his wishes." He turned to look at me. "He said that they're coming here to see Bella and they wouldn't wait."

Oh crap. What now?

A/N: Okay, I wasn't going to end it here, but my maths exam is on tomorrow and I just wanted to get this out here. More chapters in the future, and I'm sorry if it wasn't up to par.

R&R.