Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters. There may be new characters created of which will be mine!

Chapter Ten

Familiar Face

BPOV

It had been several days since mine and Jasper's encounter with an unwanted guest. We had all went back to the area that Jasper and I had been hunting in to get another smell. It was faint but it was still there. Now all of us, including our parents, knew what scent to be looking for. The scent disappeared and we searched for it in different directions and we could not find it. I had begun to believe Jasper was right about the woman. She probably had been in these forests before as she had knew her way around as well as we did but she had successfully confused her scent by bouncing around ours.

Carlisle had insisted we go back into the daily routines that we had gotten use to upon our return to Forks. Edward and I had agreed to go to the market, we had to have food stocked in the house, to keep up our human façade, for Esme. She was in the middle of working on renovating the downstairs of the house. She called it busywork while I jokingly called it a waste of money as the house was already perfect. Here Edward and I were in the supermarket, pretending to by our family's groceries. We hadn't even thought to wonder if it would be viewed as strange that the teenage children of the doctor was buying loads of health conscience food for their family.

As Edward and I embarked on the journey of grocery shopping for our family that didn't eat, I tried to remember all of the things that I had eaten long ago while I was still human. I started laughing to myself. Edward raised an eyebrow and I opened my shield to him. All of the things I had eaten all of those years ago were the less than healthy. Cold cereal, lasagna, pop-tarts. Edward leaned in and whispered, "or maybe they were, you have the best figure of anyone I know to have eaten like that and had two children."

Edward winked at me as I rolled my eyes. Transforming into a vampire was the cure for all needed cosmetic surgery. The venom made sure to make everything about you perfect. Thinking about the venom sent me back to my transformation. I had insisted that Edward's venom was what I wanted to change me and I got my wish. I truly believed that transforming with his venom would bond us even more than immortality itself. None of the others were bonded by their mate's venom other than Esme. Esme and Carlisle's devotion was just as mine and Edward's, not that Alice and Jasper's and Rosalie and Emmett's was that much less, but it was different. Much different. My shield was still up and Edward squeezed my hand. We had to remember to act like teenagers than the much older husband and wife that we were. It had never failed that every place we had moved to and all that met us, remarks had always been made how the good doctor's children were old souls and well-behaved.

Edward and I proceeded down the different aisles in the store. It was hard to remember the things that were basic to a human's diet. I was sure to grab plenty of fruits and vegetables as well as milk and juice. I grabbed a few things of soda and some potato chips. Frozen items like pizzas. Edward looked at all the items with disgust. I would have to agree that once I was changed, my taste for any human food disappeared nearly immediately. I had remembered Renesmee showing me that Carlisle insisted she try to drink formula and the smell of it alone would have left me heaving.

We made our way down all of the aisles. If we could have did this at our running pace, we would have been out in thirty seconds or less with the both us gathering items we would need. Instead we had used our slow, human pace and drifted around the store. The others we passed would stop and stare at us. Edward would laugh and would hug and kiss me when the thoughts of others were more than he could bare. He started laughing as we neared the checkout lanes in the front of the store. "What?" I insisted.

Edward pointed to a couple that had just passed us. "They cant understand for one, why Dr. Cullen and Mrs. Cullen would raise a bunch of teenagers that weren't theirs and then allow them to date. They can understand why the 'Cullen' siblings look like the parents as they are true relatives, but they cant explain why the 'Hale' children still look like them as well." Edward was laughing even harder. "Now they are questioning why Carlisle and Esme look alike."

I looked to Edward and shrugged, "I had wondered the same thing and so did Angela and Jessica."

Edward smiled. "I can understand it. Nobody but you, love, in all my years had been smart enough to figure it out."

I looked at Edward. Is that what he thought? That was why I dug for answers. "Edward, I figured it out because I wanted to know you…because I love you. It wasn't about being smart. I had wanted to know you and everything about you. That is why I figured it out. I told you, nobody has ever loved another the way I love you." Edward could not argue my point. For once, when it came to the argument of whom loved whom the most, Edward had no room for argument. He was actually at a loss for words. I couldn't help but look at him and beam with pride that I had won the love argument.

We reached the lines to check out. Edward placed all of the items and the cashier went to work. We had probably over bought the necessary items for eight people, but then again we weren't your regular people. Edward and I had taken great care into making sure that the items we got were organic, healthy and would be easy to show that our family was truly on a special diet as we referred to it often when we were offered a drink or food. It had only happened to me on two occasions were I couldn't deny what was being offered so I had to swallow the human food. The memory of Edward taking a bite of pizza the first time we sat for lunch together after I knew his secret drifted into my mind. I had wondered how he had done it. I had asked him and he had made the analogy of me eating something that I didn't want to if I had to. I of course had ate dirt once just to prove that I would on a dare. It had been terrible from the recollection I had, but that had paled in comparison to the first time I had to swallow food. Edward had left out the part that he would have to hurl the food back out his stomach when he taken that bite of pizza or I would have stopped him. My daydreaming ended when Edward gave me a nudge to let me know it was time to go on. We were finished with our shopping!

Edward was putting the bags into our car when I heard someone call my name, "Bella, is that you," the voice called. It was a familiar voice but something about it didn't seem right. My body tensed up. What if Alice had been wrong and this voice belonged to someone or something that was coming after me? It was a man's voice. "Bella Swan, is that you?"

Edward and I turned to look at the man approaching us. The voice belonged to him. "I'll be damned," Edward muttered under his breath to me.

The man was elderly, hair white as snow. I was looking at his face. I could slightly recognize who he was. Time had changed his face very little. There was some wrinkles but nothing compared to what I would have expected for someone who was roughly my age and had to be nearly ninety years old. "Bella Swan, that looks just like you but it isn't possible," the voice declared.

I stammered and looked at Edward. "Uh, sir, I think you are mistaken," I tried. I had never thought moving back after having been gone for more than seven decades that Mike Newton would still be alive and well and would recognize me. "I think you are looking for the wrong person, sir."

I was trying my best to be a believable liar. I had gotten good with practice over the years but it had begun to seem that all rules that I apply to me elsewhere goes out the window in Forks. Edward took a hold of my elbow and begin to guide me toward the passenger side of the car. Thank God he was there or I would still be standing dumbfounded, staring at Mike Newton. "Pardon us, Sir, but we will be late for dinner if we don't go now," Edward tried to politely excuse us.

Mike Newton took a step backwards and brought his hand to his mouth. "Well, I don't say. I can't believe it." Mike Newton, the old man, begin to back away and then caught himself on the cart return. He held himself steady. "I…Edward Cullen."

Edward grinned at me and then smiled at Mike Newton. I lifted my shield. Edward, what is he thinking? Edward said quietly, "he recognizes us."

I stood in horror as Edward walked toward Mike Newton. If we had ever needed our son, it would be now. If Masen was here, he could look into Mike's eyes and convince him as we like to call it, that he saw two people that looked like his old classmates and nothing more. Edward nodded his head at Mike, "Yes, sir, that is my name, but how do you know?" he began to dig for information. "Have you met my father or my mother perhaps?"

Mike continued to look back and forth between us. He stared intently at our faces. "I am Bella Cullen," I said. His grandson had told us that his grandfather had Alzheimer's. I hated to try to confuse the man, but it was best for our family. "You must be confused."

Mike took another long look, "Of course you are Bella Cullen. You married Edward. But, you, the Bella I knew…Edward looks the same, but the Bella I knew had the most beautiful eyes…you, you look different."

Mike was stammering over every word he spoke. Of course, if I was in his shoes and the roles were reversed, I would be just at a loss. "Sir, what is your name?" Edward was still playing his game. He looked at me and winked.

"Uh, I'm Mike Newton, I graduated with you," he insisted. "Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan. I was at your wedding."

Mike was talking to us like we were the elderly, being coached into remember someone that should be apparent. Edward started laughing, "Sir, we are only seventeen years old. We are not married but someday we will be. Uh, our father adopted us. We only have lived here a couple weeks, sir. You must have us confused. Though we recently discovered that Bella's namesake was from this town, her father was the Chief of Police here. Perhaps you knew her."

"You are telling me you are Bella Swan's granddaughter or relation of sorts?" Mike questioned.

I looked to Mike and put on my best poker face, as Edward called it. "Yes, Isabella Swan is my grandmother. Did you know her? I never met her."

Mike stared in disbelief. "You look just like Bella, just, your eyes are different and you are paler…you like more like the Cullens."

Edward begin to grin. He was listening to Mike's thoughts. He answered his thoughts without Mike having said anything. "We are extremely distantly related. That explains the eyes and our pallor, Mr. Newton. I believe Edward Cullen that married Isabella Swan was perhaps my cousin removed maybe eight or nine times, so really, our blood line is totally separate." With the words blood line, Edward chuckled inaudibly to the human ears. Our blood line wasn't a problem as we didn't have any blood.

Mike was about to start speaking again when we heard Andrew, "Grandfather, what are you doing over here? You know if you come to the store with me, you have to stay with me. Mom will have my head and dad will too." Mike looked bashfully away, as if he was a child being scolded in front of his playmates. I couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of guilt for the embarrassment he was having to undergo. I looked to Andrew and pleaded with my eyes to be nicer to his grandfather. Andrew put his arm around his grandfather and turned to Edward and I. "Guys, I'm sorry. He really doesn't mean any harm. I hope he didn't bother you."

Edward spoke before the words could even form on my lips, "No, not at all. He was just speaking to us about our ancestors. Apparently your granddad went to school with my distant cousin and Bella's grandmother." Edward moved closer to Andrew. "I think his Alzheimer's has him confused a little. He kept thinking we were those he knew many years ago."

Andrew nodded in concern and that made the guilty twinge in my gut stab that much harder and sharper. Now Edward and I were playing on this poor man's illness as our cover story. Andrew began walking his grandfather toward his vehicle. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. Newton," I said as he walked away. Mike waved with an expression of confusion across his face. Once he and Andrew were out of earshot, I turned to my husband. "So what was he thinking?"

Edward began to chuckle. "Love, Mike Newton hasn't changed a bit. His first thought was you were here and he was coming over. Seriously, it didn't matter that you look like teenager, all he could think of was Bella Swan is here. Though I have to say, he is quite disappointed that YOU are not THEE Bella that he knew. Though I don't know how he would reconcile the age gap there." Edward's crooked grin spread across his face. "His grandson isn't much different. But if all we have to deal with is Mike Newton remembering us, the rest will be easy. We never met or saw any of our classmates children so as long as Mike is the only one around here, we should be okay."

With those words, Edward had given me an idea. I would have to head to the library or get out my laptop that Edward had just given. We needed to know who was left in town that might remember us. We needed to be careful. Our happiness and family was being put to risk by an unknown immortal and a familiar face.