A/N: Okay, new chapter up and running.

Tytus: I hope you're really happy with yourself, you conniving sea slug. Yes, I said it. I had absolutely none of this written when you forced me to write it, so I had to work hard…

Also, this chapter is sent to you, Reflections of a Curious Mind, in a shameless attempt to make you write faster…I have recently found out that bribing people with chapters works wonders.

BPOV

Very few people realise how difficult it is to sweep the floor with a cat attached to the broom. Those little suckers just latch on and won't let go, even when you drag them all around the house in an attempt to remove the dust. That was why I was sort of glad Sanderson was at someone else's house for the time being, because for such a lazy cat, he was one of the worst broom-latchers I had ever seen.

After we had arrived home from school and I had pulled myself out of my 'lack-of-Alice' funk, I had decided to put my mind to cleaning in order to make our home presentable for the coming guests. That had started off with the dishes, which had included one cup and a fork, but still. Then I had moved on to vacuuming the carpeted sections of the house, polishing the already clear windows (just in case), along with a myriad of other things and now was sweeping. It went much faster without a cat.

"Guys, could you at least try to help out?" I asked my siblings, exasperated with their lack of movement. Brandishing my brush at them didn't seem to help either. Both of them were lounging on the couch, curled up together and flicking through the channels.

Lee, doing an almost perfect imitation of Sanderson, stretched to his full length, then curled up slightly again. "Bella, will you relax."

"Yeah, relax," Jesse echoed, busily reading a magazine based around chess and up-coming tournaments, something that she sometimes entered and rarely, if ever, lost. "Come over here and sit down. Animal Planet is on, you love Animal Planet."

I looked to the TV and saw a fox cub playing in the brush. Managing to stop myself from cooing, if only barely, I resolutely turned my head away from the screen. "No, there is no time for the cuteness, cleaning must take priority."

Scoffing, Lee turned to look at me. "What cleaning? Our house is already clean, you're just nervous. Again."

"I am not nervous."

"You clean when you're nervous," Jesse put in.

I paused. "I do not."

"The entire first week after you found out about your tendency to blow things up with your mind, you spent it cleaning. You even took apart, cleaned and oiled, then reassembled my wood chipper and Lee's bike. Which was impressive, seeing as you were five at the time." She turned the page of her magazine and settled back into her smirking mate.

Huh. "Okay, maybe I do, but you could still humour my idiosyncrasies and get off your asses," I mumbled, leaning the broom against the wall now that the floor was clean enough to see your face in.

Looking around the room, I saw that one of the family photos on the wall, depicting our trip to Disneyland, was crooked. Flitting over, I straightened it out and took a moment to look at it.

It had been taken in front of the Living Seas restaurant. I was in the middle, with Jesse and Lee on either side, arms around me. Micheal and Clare were behind us, the picture having been taken by a hapless tourist that had been snagged by Clare's charms. We all were smiling, me brandishing my hard earned stuffed toy, a little pink lion that I had won in the ring toss and had named, imaginatively, Liony. I had been seven and had managed to get my powers to cooperate for that weekend. The normally long queues had been missing seeing as it had been a miserable day, with an overcast sky, cold winds and random showers. We had chosen that weekend to go for obvious reasons, but despite the weather, it was one of my favourite memories.

"I'm just trying to make the house more presentable for when the Cullens arrive."

"Of course, because we all know the Cullens would never associate with a family who didn't alphabetize their DVD collection," Lee stated dryly.

I sighed, trudging over to the couch and plopping down, placing my head in Jesse's lap and letting my feet dangle over the end. "Put Animal Planet back on."

"That's my girl," Jesse said approvingly, running her fingers absently through my white hair. My ring was in my pocket after I had decided that it was sort of pointless to wear it when the Cullen's already knew what I looked like. I could also admit to myself that I was maybe, sort of, possibly trying to impress Alice.

Possibly.

I gradually wound down while watching the adventures of the little fox cub, and by the time my parents arrived from wherever they had been, I was completely relaxed.

"Where were you?" I asked as soon as they walked in the door.

"Hunting. Then we got a little…held up," Micheal told me, exchanging a glance with Clare. It was only then that I noticed the state their clothes were in. They both were very neat hunters, so that left-

"Oh God. I did not need to know that..," I groaned, turning my head to shield my eyes from my mussed up parents.

Micheal chuckled and walked further into the house, while Clare flitted up the stairs. The shower started soon after. "Now Bella, we may be your parents, but that does not stop us from having s-"

"Don't say it!" I cut him off. "We have always had an unspoken agreement, whenever any of you guys get…urges, I go flying. The agreement also states that we do not speak of such things. Not after the talk." I turned to glare at Jesse. "I still haven't forgotten that."

She held up her hands in a surrendering gesture. "I said I was sorry, I just couldn't resist. Besides, you borrowed dad's encyclopaedia and found out the truth after a few minutes anyway."

When I had been four, I had gotten curious about life, as kids usually do, and had asked Jesse to explain. She had added certain…embellishments to the story, and not of the stork or cabbage patch variety either.

Clare arrived down the stairs soon after as Micheal went up to take his turn, clean and wearing fresh clothes. Walking over, she sat down in front of the couch, leaning back against it.

"What time will they be arriving?" she asked, as I heated up my hands and ran them through her wet hair. Her hair was fairly short and didn't require much drying, not like Jesse's long, thick mane, but this was easier than using a hairdryer.

"About ten minutes. They're bringing the cat."

She laughed, resting her head against my side. "I bet they had a handful with him."

"He's taken a liking to Rosalie, actually. And he already thinks their house belongs to him."

She 'hmm'd. "He's a cat, Bella, they're all convinced that the world belongs to them."

I chuckled. "Yeah, remember Tango?"

Jesse finished her magazine and placed it to the side, looking down at me with a raised eyebrow. "The first mountain lion you brought home? How could we forget?"

"Was that the one who wouldn't get off the Christmas tree?" Micheal asked as he came down the stairs. He walked towards me and I sent a jet of heated air towards his head, drying it quickly. He nodded in thanks and pulled Clare to her feet, both of them sitting down on the loveseat.

"Wouldn't get off the Christmas tree? That thing killed the Christmas tree," Lee put in. "And I'm fairly certain it ate one of the baubles."

My brows furrowed as I glance at another picture on the wall, this one showing my sixth Christmas. All of my family were standing off to the side, dressed in knitted sweaters and Santa hats, timed camera forgotten as we watched one hundred and eighty pounds of cat roll around in what was left of our tree. If a human ever came over, we would definitely have to take down most of the family photos.

"I blame myself for that. I really shouldn't have gotten him catnip as a present," I said, smiling slightly at the memory.

"Well, in all honesty, he really seemed to have enjoyed himself. Especially when he got into the fridge." Jesse cocked her head to the side, remembering. "Man, there was milk everywhere."

Any further acts of reminiscing were put to a stop as we all heard the sound of two engines starting down our road. I glanced at my watch, noticing that it was exactly the time they said they would arrive. I guess they were very punctual people.

We all waited patiently as the sound of the engines grew louder, and I couldn't help the sense of excitement and expectation that welled up in me. Alice was coming.

APOV

At this point in my life, I should have mastered the art of patience, especially considering my gift.

I constantly had visions of things that would happen, and then I would have to wait until it came about. I was over a hundred years old and had to go through school over and over again, and dealing with teenage humans day after day does, in fact, require tremendous amounts of patience.

I should have been able to deal with three hours easily. All of the evidence and my past experiences told me as much, and yet I was barely stopping myself from leaping out of the horribly slow moving car and pelting down the road towards Bella's house.

I sighed, flopping back into my seat in between Rosalie and Jasper. "Are you guys sure this is normal?"

We had decided to take two cars, as opposed to running, as we weren't sure how the cat would react to those speeds. Carlisle and Esme were in the BMW in front of us, while we were all in Edward's Volvo. Edward was driving, and Emmett's sheer size usually guaranteed him a place in the front, so the rest of us were stuck in the back.

Rosalie exhaled in exasperation. "For the last time Alice, yes, it's normal." Sanderson seconded her statement with a tiny 'mew' from his place in her arms. We had come home to find Esme watching TV, with the cat sleeping on the back of the sofa, curled around her neck like a mink stole. That had led to me waiting not so patiently for three hours until we could leave again.

Both Carlisle and Esme had been thrilled with the invitation and were very eager to meet the rest of the Van Allens.

"But I basically just saw her, and now I'm anxious that she's not here beside me right now," I said, not really understanding this need to be near Bella.

"Alice, you've only just found your mate, so I can understand your confusion, but all vampires go through this. We all did, and now it's your turn, so suck it up." Sanderson 'mew'd again in what I swore was agreement.

"Oh I am so separating you two," I grumbled.

"Don't hate the cat just because he knows I'm right," she responded, smug.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." Raising my voice slightly, I turned my attention to the car in front of us. "Turn left up here Carlisle."

As his left indicator lit up, I glanced at Edward. "Can't you drive any faster?"

"Alice, we're already going forty miles over the speed limit."

"And?"

He paused. "Nothing really, I just thought that I should try to be responsible." He pressed his foot down and we sped up, the BMW following suit to prevent it us from banging into them.

The incredibly long driveway down to Bella's house was well maintained, fresh gravel lining the road and trees growing up and over, creating a tunnel. It was seven o' clock, the sun almost completely set but it was dark already thanks to the cloud cover. It wasn't long before we could see lights in the distance, and since no one else lived this far out, we knew that it was Bella's house.

By the time we pulled up in front of the house, I was leaning over Jasper to get closer to the door.

"Wow, what a gorgeous house," Esme said, her voice carrying easily over to us as she opened her door and stepped out. Carlisle quickly followed, admiring his surroundings as he walked around the car towards his mate.

"Look at those lions!" Emmett crowed, unbuckling his seatbelt. For some reason, he always wore one, despite the fact that he wouldn't even get hurt in the event of a crash. "They look so life-like. And huge."

I didn't wait for Jasper to get out first, I just scrambled over him and landed on my feet, hopping impatiently as I waited for my family to get a move on. They piled out quickly, Rosalie cradling the cat gently and we made our way to the doors.

Turns out that Bella also wasn't great with the waiting. I had just raised my hand to knock, when the door was flung open, my still-raised hand was grabbed and I was pulled into the house. Warm arms wrapped around me and I raised my face instinctively to meet her lips. From the scent and the heat, I could tell that the glamour was gone and I smiled into the kiss.

I heard Carlisle and Esme introduce themselves, as well as my siblings and listened with half an ear as Bella's family reciprocated. Everybody shook hands and the door was closed. Seeing as everybody already knew the two of us, I didn't see any reason to break apart right at this moment.

Unfortunately they didn't agree. I felt a hand grip the back of my shirt and then I was pulled away from Bella, protests falling from the both of us as we were held up by Emmett like scolded puppies.

"Emmett," I whined. "Put me down."

"So you two can go back to locking lips for the rest of the night? No way."

"Oh come on, you and Rose do way worse all the time!" I didn't care if I was being petulant.

He began walking into the living room at the direction of Bella's mother, who looked way too amused. "Now, now, it's really for your own good. As much as I'd love to watch a little girl on girl action, if we let you do that, I'll never get my questions answered."

Bella huffed, looking beyond adorable hanging there in my brother's large grip. "My parents know everything I do, ask them your questions. Just give me back Alice."

Everyone else sat down in various seats as Emmett pulled us over to the couch, flopping down with both of us on either side of him. Unfortunately for him, he had never seen Bella move, so as soon as his grip on her relaxed, she was up off the couch and over to me faster than he could register. I twisted in place and placed my feet against his side, booting him off the couch as Bella scooped me up into her arms and sat down.

"Hey! What the hell?" Emmett cried, looking extremely put out. Which was fairly understandable, sprawled on the floor as he was.

We grinned in unison down at him. He grumbled up at us as he stood back up and took his seat, sending little glares at us from the corner of his eye. The tiny smile on his face, however, betrayed his true feelings on the matter.

"Are we going to get into this or are you three going to start mud-wrestling?" Jesse asked, glancing between us.

I looked to Carlisle, knowing that he had actually compiled a list of questions, but I found him to be staring at Bella's father with great intensity.

"I know you, don't I?" he asked.

Micheal smiled slightly. "Yes, we met about two hundred years ago, albeit briefly."

Carlisle straightened, rubbing his jaw as he thought back. "I was with the Volturi at that time." His eyes widened in realisation. "I do remember you, you were one of the Guard."

I looked between the two of them, surprised. Bella's father had been a member of the Volturi Guard? Did that mean he had an ability? Of course it did, Aro didn't recruit powerless vampires. So what was it? I leaned back against Bella as she began to gently run her fingers through my hair.

Micheal laughed. "My tenure with the Volturi had to have been the shortest in history." He wrapped his arm around Clare and pulled her into his side. "You see, the Volturi are the ones who changed both Clare and myself."

Jasper leaned forward alongside Carlisle, looking extremely interested. We had originally thought to come here to learn about Bella, but coming to know her family would be equally important. "Why? And how did you get out? The Volturi aren't really great with letting gifted vampires leave their ranks."

"Actually, we had originally been captured to be a meal for them." He looked over at the wall which held a broken dagger, smiling slightly once again. "However, there was a vampire amongst them with the ability to be able to see any gifts a vampire had, or that a human would have once they were turned."

I perked up at that. "Eleazar?"

He turned to me, eyebrow raised. "You know him?"

"Yeah, he's a friend of ours. He left the Volturi a long time ago to be with his mate, Carmen. He's actually a vegetarian now."

Bella's father grinned, as did Clare. "That's great. I never understood why such a decent man would willingly work for people like that."

"Why did you?" Rosalie asked, absently scratching Sanderson under the ears and receiving loud purrs as thanks.

Micheal shook his head. "We didn't know any better. After Eleazar sensed that we would have abilities, Aro immediately turned us. They explained very little about their inner workings, or even about the finer details of being vampires at first. I guess they wanted us to have a reason to stay until we became so used to them that we didn't want to leave. Familiarity is a powerful thing."

"After a while, once we got over the rage-filled newborn phase, we resented what they had done and detested our need to kill." He grinned over at Carlisle. "We had been with them for about eleven months when a nomad came with stories of a strange golden-eyed vampire. He was the first vampire we had met other than the Volturi and he told us what we needed to know about ourselves. Or at least what we hadn't discovered on our own by then."

"And that was when I arrived?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes. I only met you for a few moments, but once I found out that there was another way to live, I immediately told Clare and we left. After much convincing, of course. I'm fairly certain that the only reason we made it out was because Chelsea had been away on business for a long time and hadn't had the chance to meet us."

Emmett, who had been clenching his jaw to keep from interrupting, couldn't keep quiet anymore. "What are your powers?"

Esme frowned at his bluntness, but Clare merely shook her head. "Don't worry about insulting us. If Jesse didn't already know about your abilities, she wouldn't have even bothered to wait.

"My own ability if fairly simple. I can 'scan' people through touch, determining their personalities, moral standards and intentions towards my family and me."

"That's gotta come in handy." My bear of a brother turned to look at Micheal. "What about you?" I sat up a little straighter in Bella's lap. I had known about Clare and her ability, but not Micheal. My visions also weren't helping, as they were still a little wonky.

He shrugged. "I don't really have a name for what I can do, but I suppose I can show you."

Clare pecked him on the cheek and stood up. "I've got it, honey." She zipped further into the house and from the direction of her steps, went down to the basement. A moment later she was back, carrying one of Micheal's statues. I knew it was one of his, because the stone cat looked so lifelike. There were even whiskers carved out of the same stone, even though that shouldn't have been possible, as thin as they were.

She placed it in front of him and he grinned up at us before focusing on the statue.

What happened next was strange. Vampires were very still creatures by nature, not needing to move much, but Micheal seemed to completely freeze in place. His still open eyes faded, as though he wasn't conscious anymore and the golden hue of his irises darkened until they were a deep grey.

Those changes, however, weren't what made it strange. It was the fact that when Micheal froze, the stone cat at his feet began moving. Its whiskers were first, twitching slightly. Then the tail, starting at the tip until it was swishing back and forth. The head shook and the cat stood up from its crouch, gazing up at us with golden eyes.

"Holy crap," Emmett breathed as all of us stared as this statue came to life.

Bella leaned her head on my shoulder. "Pretty amazing, isn't it?"

A purr came out of the cat, sounding deeper and more gravely than normal. It moved over to Clare and batted it's head against her leg. She chuckled and scooped it up, its dark stone limbs moving with as much grace and animation as an actual feline. "Okay, you can stop playing."

The purring stopped and the cat grinned, tiny stone teeth bared in a decent impression of the Cheshire Cat.

"How is that happening?" Edward asked, eyebrows almost disappearing into his hairline.

Bella wrapped her arms around me from behind. "Micheal can transfer his consciousness into any statue that he has carved, animating it. As of right now, he's not in his body, he's in the cat."

I stared at the statue, then at Bella's frozen father, then back again. "Mr Van Allen?"

The tiny stone head swivelled towards me and nodded, eyelids blinking over golden eyes. Micheal's golden eyes.

"That's just freaky," Emmett said. "What are the limitations?"

Lee decided to field this question. "Well, as Bella said, he can only use statues that he himself has carved. Also, he can only do one at a time." He shifted slightly, hooking one leg around Jesse's. "A downside is that when he's inhabiting a statue, his body is defenceless, his diamond hard skin losing most of its density and becoming only as hard as the stone the statue is made of. The upside is that the vampiric attributes he loses, are transferred to the statue. That makes them a bitch to kill."

Jasper released a breath, impressed. "No wonder the Volturi wanted him. What's his range for piloting?"

"He doesn't have any. Once he's in a statue, he can stay in it for as long as he likes, going as far as he likes. If the statue is destroyed or he chooses to, he comes back to his own body instantly, although a destroyed statue while he's piloting it means he gets very disoriented for a while."

"Okay, that is officially the coolest vampire power I've ever heard of." Emmett seemed to think of something and looked at the door, eyes widening. "Please tell me you carved those giant lions outside."

The cat, or rather, Micheal, nodded again and Emmett crowed with excitement. "That is awesome! You have got to show me sometime, they're even bigger than the wolves. I bet you could kick their hairy asses with those things."

"Micheal created them for defensive purposes, so unless they attack, you won't be seeing the lions kick anyone's ass," Clare put in, lowering Micheal to the ground. He trotted over to his body- this was going to take some getting used to- and sat down in front of it.

After several seconds, the process reversed itself and Micheal groaned, stretching while the cat became an inanimate object once again. His eyes lightened until they were golden as the cats took on their natural grey hue.

"I always feel a bit creaky after doing that," he sighed, placing his arm back around his wife, who snuggled into his side affectionately.

"That is impressive. I'm even more astounded that Aro let you go," Carlisle stated, examining the statue closely.

Micheal shrugged. "Once he found out that we wanted to become vegetarians, he knew that even with Chelsea, we would no longer feel comfortable with them and a Guard that has no interest in protecting him is of no use to him."

Carlisle chuckled. "Knowing Aro, he probably thought that you would tire of your new life. He must have thought that if he acted like a decent man and let you go peacefully, when you did eventually return to your old ways, you would come back to him."

"From your tone of voice, I get the impression that you're not that close," Jesse observed. She was sitting with Lee on the second sofa, with Rosalie sitting beside her and Sanderson stretched between the two, watchful eyes on the cat statue.

Carlisle's expression turned almost sad. "When I first heard of them, I was so excited to be meeting with other civilized vampires that I could overlook their eating habits. Aro and myself did become good friends, to the point where I was even a little bit sad to leave." His gaze turned to me. "However, since I welcomed gifted vampires into my family, especially Alice, our relationship has deteriorated."

"He wanted her to join his Guard," Bella guessed correctly, arms tightening even further around me.

My foster father nodded. "Yes, as well as Jasper and Edward. The Romanian Coven, you see, had gathered many followers in secret about seventy years ago, attempting to oust the Volturi from power. Aro became desperate to get as many gifted vampires as he could and almost used Jane to force our cooperation."

Bella stiffened behind me, temperature rising, no doubt having been told of Jane by her father. I rubbed her arm soothingly, trying not to think back to that dark time when I had looked into Jane's eyes, terrified that she would use her 'gift' on me or my family.

She relaxed minutely and placed a small kiss on the back of my neck, settling in to listen to the rest of the story.

"We managed to convince him that we would like to remain peaceful and he left, though not on great terms. We haven't spoken since."

"Since this was before my time, I'm going to be the one who asks about the outcome of that war," Jesse said.

Edwards brow furrowed. "That's the strange thing. The Romanians were actually doing very well. They still had a long way to go, but it had gotten to the point where we were considering helping, when all of a sudden, the war stopped. The Romanians were pushed back and Aro regained all, if not more, of the power he had before the war."

"How?"

"Well, we haven't exactly asked him, but we just assumed that he had found some very gifted vampires willing to work for him. Since then, he hasn't had to worry at all about uprisings, his control over the vampire world is stronger than ever."

Micheal shook his head. "That man has always had an insatiable lust for power."

"Speaking of power, what about you, Bella? What kind of power are you packing?" That was Emmett. A one track mind. My family turned to face her and she shifted slightly.

"Well, I already went through it with Alice, so you guys get the condensed version. Strength almost equal to a vampire, speed greater than a vampire, better senses, animal empathy, you saw the healing, pyrokinesis and the whole flying thing. As well as the mental shield."

There was silence.

Emmett blinked. "Well, it was certainly condensed…"

"Did you just say pyrokinesis?" Carlisle asked, eyes wide.

Jesse grinned. "Why don't you give them a demonstration, Bella? It's getting a bit chilly in here."

Bella sighed and held out her hand towards the fireplace, which contained fresh pieces of wood. Seeing as she was basically wrapped around me, I felt the warmth start in her chest, then expand throughout her body as she focused, shooting down her arm and materializing in her hand.

The blue/silver flame grew and expanded, then with a flick of her wrist, shot into the fireplace, lighting the wood instantaneously. We all watched the hearty fire for a few moments, feeling the heat coming off of it.

Sanderson perked his head up, swivelling to look over at the newly roaring fire. He rolled off of Rosalie and Jesse's lap and padded towards it, flopping down onto the fluffy black mat before it. That cat sure flopped a lot.

"Astounding. I've seen many abilities in my time, but never flame manipulation. You must be completely immune to heat, or is it just the flames you generate? And how much fire can you produce? Is it more potent than normal? How do-"

"Honey," Esme interrupted, placing a soothing hand on his arm. "Why don't you let her answer one question before asking another?"

He looked sheepish, an expression I was not used to seeing on his face. "Sorry."

"No problem," Bella said, her voice flowing over the room in soothing tones. "I am immune to other forms of heat, not just my own. To what extent, I don't know, I've never exactly jumped into an active volcano to test it. The biggest fireball I produced was roughly the same size as this house, but in a constant stream I've yet to figure out my limit. The fire can be more potent than normal, or less, depending on my preference at the time. It also tends to be a little finicky, responding to my emotions a lot, which makes it unreliable in a fight. Any more questions?"

Carlisle was silent as he digested this, wheels turning in his head, so Emmett continued for him.

"You've had to use it in a fight?" Now it was my turn to stiffen. I knew that Bella had come into contact with other vampires, but I had never really thought about what that would mean.

"Twice." Her voice was soft, almost silent. "The first time I used it as a weapon was the first time I used it at all."

"What happened?" Rosalie asked. "If you don't mind telling, that is."

She shook her head. "It's no problem. It was twelve years ago, when I was five. Jesse and I were out in the woods playing hide and seek when another vampire came. I had been hiding, so Jesse was several miles away."

Jesse scowled, obviously remembering the incident and I barely stopped myself from snarling at the thought of Bella meeting a non-friendly vampire at such a young age.

"I may have been only five, but I wasn't stupid. He seemed way too interested in me, in my blood, so I ran for it. The canopy was too thick, so I was heading for a clearing so I could fly out of there. He was faster though and he caught me."

Now both Clare and Micheal growled slightly, expressions dark.

"My blood may not make your throat burn and test your control, but it does still smell good. He was about to take a bite when Jesse showed up and tackled him. There was a fight, but he was older and more experienced. The fight ended with his arm around Jesse's throat, about to kill her." She shivered behind me. "I freaked. I jumped onto his back and knocked him over, then the next thing I knew, I was on fire. And so was he. The rest is pretty self-explanatory."

I turned in her grip. "He died?"

She nodded, lips forming a tight line. "Very quickly. The second time was similar, but I didn't kill the vampire, just blew off one of his legs and Clare finished him."

Emmett whistled. "You blew off one of his legs? How is that not reliable in a fight?"

Bella scowled. "I was aiming for his head," she grumbled.

At her petulant expression, the tense atmosphere was broken and laughter rang throughout the room.

She scowled again and I leaned up to kiss her. Her temperature had risen a few notches since I had last done this, giving it a delightful edge. She responded enthusiastically, only stopping when Clare zipped up the stairs and back down, carrying some kind of chest.

"Oh God, mom, no. You promised," she whined, sounding extremely strange given her physical appearance and tone of voice.

"It was a loose verbal agreement. I never said the words 'I promise'." She grinned, looking decidedly evil. "Besides, I'm sure Alice would love to see some baby photos."

In a second I was off of Bella and kneeling beside the wooden chest. "Yes, God yes!"

"What have I ever done to you, Mom? Was I not a dutiful daughter? Do you not love me? Why would you do this to me?"

"Oh hush, it's only a few photos, maybe a video or two."

I looked up at her, one hundred watt smile splitting my face. "You have videos?"

The rest of the people in the room gathered around the chest as she nodded, Bella huffing and plonking herself down beside me, white hair flying everywhere.

The chest was opened and Clare pulled out a neatly folded silver blanket. The blue flames in the fireplace reflected off of its surface, giving it a blue sheen. There were darker threads of fabric crossing the blanket, creating a pattern in an almost Celtic design. It was gorgeous.

She held it almost reverently. "This is the blanket Bella was wrapped in when we found her."

I reached out a hand and touched it, trying to imagine a tiny Bella bundled up inside. She must have looked adorable. I looked to my right, catching her eye and smiling tenderly at her. She returned the smile, a tiny tint to her luminescent cheeks.

Next came what looked like a photo album, and I barely restrained myself from snatching it.

"This is the first picture we took of Bella, a few hours after we found her."

She opened it to the first page, revealing a small glossy photo. It showed Clare sitting on a wooden chair, cradling what must have been a baby Bella in her arms, amazed smile on her face.

Bella was tiny, her little white-topped head peeking out of the silver bundle. Her fist was grabbing onto Clare's shirt, as though she was holding her there. At the edge of the photo, Jesse's inquisitive face could be seen, an expression on her face that could only be described as 'awww'.

Esme outright cooed, hands held to her chest. "Oh she looks adorable."

"And there goes any respect I've earned as a mysterious mythical creature," Bella sighed, hanging her head.

"Go to the next one," Edward said eagerly. Baby photos weren't exactly common in our house, so seeing Bella in her formative years was an experience.

The next photo showed baby Bella sitting on Jesse's lap, staring up at her with adoring eyes. There were tiny slits cut into her little top, allowing downy wings to poke through.

"Look at your itty bitty wings," Emmett mock-cooed on the other side of Bella, picking up on her embarrassment and making good use of it. "They're all fluffy and weensy!"

Bella's eyes narrowed as dark blue lights flowed out from her back. Before my brother could react, one of the large white wings snapped out, whopping him on the back of his head and pitching him forward.

"They're not so weensy anymore, Emmett."

I snickered at the look on his face, a cross between shocked and insulted.

"That reminds me, you have to see the video of Bella's first time walking," Clare continued.

"You have it?" Rosalie asked, her natural love of children coming forth.

Micheal nodded, rummaging in the chest and pulling out a tape. "Yeah, that was a memorable occasion, for more than one reason."

"What about her first word?" Jasper spoke up. It seemed everyone was getting into this, much to Bella's mortification.

"It was actually 'pigeon'."

"Pigeon?" I looked over at the girl in question, noting the fact that she had her head in her hands at this point.

"Yeah," Micheal said as he hooked up the tape player to the TV. "We were all convinced she was about to say mommy, she had even formed the first letter, then she looked over Clare's shoulder at the pile of birds there and fairly shrieked 'pigeon'. She had a set of lungs on her for a two month old."

"Wait, she could say Pigeon when she was only two months old," Carlisle asked.

Micheal nodded, regarding a cable quizzically. "She was a very advanced baby. At that point, she was already changing her own diapers."

"Kill me now..," Bella mumbled, wings wrapping around herself to shield her from us.

"Got it." We all turned as Micheal pressed a few buttons and a picture came on-screen.

A Bella that looked about four months old was holding onto the couch, looking around her curiously with wide eyes.

"Micheal! Micheal, come here, I think she's about to do it." Clare's voice was frantic and full of excitement. There was a faint blur and Micheal could be seen at the edge of the screen, along with Jesse and Lee.

Bella moved her foot an inch, then another, letting go of the couch as she moved forth.

There was a tiny gasp, then Clare's voice came back. "Ah! She's walking, look!"

Bella, smiling hugely, began walking faster, every step giving her more grace and ease. She made her way over to the door on wobbly legs, stopping just before the threshold and grinning up at the camera with a smile only babies can accomplish.

Then she blurred out the front door.

There was complete silence for a few moments, then, "Holy crap! Bella, come back here!" The camera shook as past Clare ran out the door after her wayward daughter.

The screen went to black and I could feel my shoulders shaking as I laughed. I leaned against Bella for support as the screen came back to life, this time with an older Bella, about a year old.

She was in the kitchen, standing on a stool so that she could reach the counter, which contained various ingredients and cooking utensils.

This time, it was Lee's voice that came over the speakers. "Okay, everybody else is out and if I miss videotaping Bella's first attempt at cooking, Clare will kill me. Seeing a one year old baking should surprise me, but this past year has left me immune to surprises."

Past Bella looked up from sprinkling sugar over a yellow substance in a white dish. "Whad'are you doing?"

"I'm videotaping you, Bells. You know how mom is with capturing all your firsts."

She pointed at the dish. "Will you twy it when it's done?"

There was a pause. "Um…sure, I guess. What are you making, anyway?"

"Cwéme Bwrulée." With that she pulled out a small blowtorch from under the counter.

The screen whirled as the camera fell to the floor, cutting out just as Lee yelled, "Bella! Give me that!"

Lee chuckled slightly at the memory, looking at his little sister fondly. The screen changed and another picture formed. This one, by far, the weirdest.

On one side of the room there was a cardboard cut-out of a castle, with what appeared to be a Barbie doll sitting in one of the windows. Lee stood in front of the castle dressed in a homemade green monster outfit, arms slashing as he made exaggerated roaring noises.

A three year old Bella stood in front of him, decked out in a full knight costume, complete with little plastic sword, which she brandished at her brother with as much menace as she could muster.

"Back vile beast! I shall slay you and rescue the Princess Iris." She swung the sword low, rolling out of the way as Lee jumped over it and swung his foam tail in her direction.

Bella crouched down, scooping up a plastic shield and blocking the tail. Her sword lashed out and smacked Lee in the chest. He made a show of dying, clutching his chest and falling slowly to the ground.

Before Bella could go to rescue the princess, loud spurts of laughter cut through the scene. The camera panned, taking in Jesse having convulsions on the ground, laughing so hard that she couldn't stand up.

"You…you look ridiculous Lee!" was all she managed to get out before choking on laughter once again.

Bella frowned, looking up at the person holding the camera. Then she grinned.

The screen cut out, then back again in a second.

The scene was almost the same as the last time, the castle with its trapped princess still being guarded by the green Lee. However, now Bella held a shield and a spear as she sat on Jesse's back, who was kneeling on all fours.

"Now, with my mighty steed, I shall fight the evil monster and rescue Princess Iris!" Bella announced, holding the spear aloft while Jesse made half-hearted whinnies, resigned expression on her face.

The tape ended and the screen went dark, Emmett's roaring laughter drowning out our much quieter chuckles. Even Rosalie had a smile on her face.

Jesse, on the other hand was scowling. "Oh, shut up," she grumbled, but her lips were twitching slightly.

Bella looked smug. "Not so fun now, is it, dearest sister of mine?"

"Oh, you don't want to get into this with me. I have way more embarrassing stories about you than you do about me."

"Wanna bet?"

Lee ignored his bickering mate and sister and faced me. "What about you Alice? We don't really know much about the girl our little Bella is dating?"

I sighed, knowing that this would have come up sooner or later. "Honestly, I don't really know."

The bickering stopped as Bella and Jesse looked at me, identical expressions of confusion on their faces. I had wanted to tell Bella this first, but I guess that there's no time like the present.

"I can't remember anything before I became a vampire," I said quietly. "I woke up one day as a vampire and I had no idea who I was."

Bella scooted closer to me and wrapped an arm, as well as a wing, around me, pulling me into her side. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Alice."

I leaned my head on her shoulder. "I guess neither of us really know who we are in the end, do we?"

She pressed a gentle kiss on my head. "We'll find out someday, Alice. Both of us."

Looking around at both of our families interacting as friends, fully accepting each other, I realised that even if I never found out who I used to be, it wouldn't matter, because I loved who I was right now.

It still didn't stop the feeling that ran up my spine that told me Bella was right. We would find out who we were, even if what we found was something that we wished we hadn't.

A/N: Whoo! Another chapter of Fallen done and dusted. It's also my birthday in two days! Eighteen, here I come...

I'm honestly not sure if you guys even liked that one, seeing as it's very word and fact heavy, but it was necessary for the overall plot. Yes, I said overall plot. I know I've only made allusions to it in the past, but there is actually one there. I have no idea how long this story will take to finish, but we still have quite a while to go. And we will get some action soon. Yay! So leave a review and all that, they make me want to write. Or at least guilt me into writing…

R&R.