Disclaimer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc., are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, ideas and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I only do this for fun. –B

Chapter 20
(Edward's POV)

The sun was setting as I drove Bella's truck back to her house after our wonderful afternoon together. Unfortunately, this tin can of a car wouldn't go above 60, so I had to keep to the speed limits. I was barely watching the road as I kept one hand on the steering wheel, the other holding Bella's against the seat. I was switching my gaze from the beautiful setting sun to Bella as I compared her beauty to the luminous rays of the ending daylight.

I couldn't get the kisses that we had out of my head and my lips were still tingling from the warmth of her lips. I couldn't help but wonder if this is what all mates felt when the touched or kissed, or was it just different for me since my mate was a human? Perhaps Jasper may feel that somewhat with Lilly, considering she is ¼ human. I would have to talk to my mated siblings to find out more on about this topic.

I turned the radio to and oldies station and began to sing along with some of the popular songs from the fifties. I began to laugh as I saw the look on Bella's face once she realized what we were listening to and that I knew every word to the songs.

"You like fifties music?" She asked incredulously.

"Music in the fifties was good. Much better than the sixties, or the seventies, ugh!" I shuddered. "The eighties were more bearable though."

"Are you ever going to tell me how old you are?" She asked in a tentative voice.

I looked over at her and smiled before turning my gaze back to the road. "Does it matter much?"

"No, but I still wonder…" She grimaced. "There's nothing like an unsolved mystery to keep you up at night."

"I wonder if it will upset you," I reflected to myself as I kept my gaze on the setting sun as the minutes passed in silence.

"Try me," She finally said.

I sighed and then looked in to her eyes, but keeping my other senses on the road. She had a look of determination, acceptance, and curiosity in her eyes and from that look, I knew that she will not be discouraged. She took everything else in stride so far, so I might as well be honest with the rest of my secrets.

"I was born in Chicago in 1901." I paused and glanced at her from the corner of my eyes. Her face didn't show any sign of surprise, but patience for the rest of my story. "Carlisle found me in a hospital in the summer of 1918. I was seventeen, and dying of the Spanish influenza."

I heard her quiet intake of breath, making me look down into her eyes again.

"I don't remember it well – it was a very long time ago, and human memories fade." I was lost in my thoughts for a short time before I continued. "I do remember how it felt, when Carlisle saved me. It's not an easy thing, not something you could forget."

"Your parents?" She asked calmly.

"They had already died from the disease. I was alone. That was why he chose me. In all the chaos of the epidemic, no one would ever realize that I was gone."

"How did he…save you?" She hesitantly asked.

I shut my eyes in exasperation. This was one topic that I wanted to stay away from; anything to do with the transformation from human to vampire. I did not want to plant any ideas in her head. I would not allow her to be damned to this life.

"If was difficult." I began, choosing my words carefully. "Not many of us have the restraint necessary to accomplish it. But Carlisle has always been the most humane, the most compassionate of us…I don't think you could find his equal throughout all of history." I paused. "For me, it was merely very, very painful."

I decided that that was all I would say on the subject of the transformation. I personally didn't want to think of it myself. Remembering the pain sent an involuntary shiver through my body and I shook off the direction my thoughts were heading as quickly as possible.

"He acted from loneliness." I said softly, clearly interrupting her thoughts. "That's usually the reason behind the choice. I was the first in Carlisle's family, though he found Esme soon after. She fell from a cliff. They brought her straight to the hospital morgue, though, somehow, her heart was still beating."

"So you must be dying, then, to become…" She trailed off.

"No, that's just Carlisle. He would never do that to someone who had another choice." I told her showing my profound respect for my father figure. "It is easier he says, though," I continued, "if the blood is weak." I looked at the now dark road, and I closed the subject once and for all…for now, I should say, if I know Bella like I think I do.

"And Emmett and Rosalie?"

"Carlisle brought Rosalie to our family next. I didn't realize till much later that he was hoping that she would be to me what Esme was to him, a mate or companion at the very least. He was very careful with his thoughts around me." I rolled my eyes. "But she was never more than a sister. It was only two years later that she found Emmett. She was hunting – we were in Appalachia at the time – and found a bear about to finish him off. She carried him back to Carlisle, more than a hundred miles, afraid she wouldn't be able to do it herself. I'm only beginning to guess how difficult that journey was for her." I threw a pointed glance in her direction and raised our hands, still folded together, to brush her cheek with the back of my hand.

"But she made it," Bella encouraged, looking away from me with a small smile on her face.

"Yes," I murmured. "She saw something in his face that made her strong enough. And they've been together ever since."

"She knew he was her mate." Bella stated.

"Exactly," I nodded. "Sometimes they live separately from us, as a married couple. But the younger we pretend to be, the longer we can stay in any given place. Forks seemed perfect, so we all enrolled in High School." I laughed. "I suppose we'll have to go to their wedding in a few years, again."

"Alice, Jasper, and Lilly?"

"The three of them are very rare creatures. Alice and Jasper developed a conscience, as we refer to it, with no outside guidance. Lilly used to drink human blood from criminals and those who harm others for their own selfish reasons. As I explained to you before, he gift insists that she periodically intakes human blood, same as Jasper now does. As soon as Lilly found out about the animal diet, she acted the same as Alice and Jasper and began to partake in the diet as her main source of blood intake.

"Jasper belonged to another…family, a very different kind of family. He became depressed, and he wandered on his own. Alice found him. Like me, Lilly and Jasper she has certain gifts above and beyond the norm for our kind."

"Yeah, Lilly told me about the rest of your family's gifts." She confirmed. "She mentioned how Alice can see the future."

"That's true. She knows other things. She sees things – things that might happen, things that are coming. But it's very subjective. The future isn't set in stone. Things change." I explained with my jaw set. My eyes darted to her face and away quickly so she wouldn't notice I looked at her to see how she was handling this. I kept expecting something to set her over the edge and be too much for her.

"What kind of things does she see?" She asked.

"She saw Jasper and knew that he was looking for her before he knew it himself. She knew he needed her help and that she would show him a way of life that he could live without depression and killing. She would also bring him to his true mate, or Lilly. She saw Carlisle and our family, and they came together to find us and knew that Lilly would come decades later. She always sees, for example, when another group of our kind is coming near. And any threat they may pose."

"Are there a lot of…your kind?" She asked in surprise.

"No, not many. But most won't settle in any one place. Only those like us, who've given up hunting you people" - I made a sly glance in her direction – "can live together with humans for any length of time. We've only found one other family like ours, in a small village in Alaska. We lived together for a time, but there were so many of us that we became too noticeable. Those of us who live…differently tend to band together."

"And the others?"

"Nomads, for the most part. We've all lived that way at times. It gets tedious, like anything else. But we run across the others now and then, because most of us prefer the North."

"Why is that?"

We were parked in front of her house now, and I turned off the truck. It was very quiet and dark and there was no moon in the sky. The porch light was off so it was clear that no one was home yet.

"Did you have your eyes open this afternoon?" I teased. "Do you think I could walk down the street in the sunlight without causing traffic accidents? There's a reason why we chose the Olympic Peninsula, one of the most sunless places in the world. It's nice to be able to go outside in the day. You wouldn't believe how tired you can get of nighttime in eighty-odd years."

"So that's where the legends came from?"

"Probably." I nodded.

"And Alice came from another family, like Jasper? What about Lilly?"

"No, Alice didn't, and that is a mystery." I revealed. "She doesn't remember her human life at all. And she doesn't know who created her. She awoke alone. Whoever made her walked away, and none of us understand why, or how, he could. If she hadn't had that other sense, if she hadn't seen Jasper and Carlisle and known that she would someday become one of us, she would probably have turned into a total savage." I paused, taking a deep unneeded breath, contemplating and then coming to a conclusion. "As for Lilly…her story is so very different and hard to explain unless she is the one explaining it. Even though I know each of my family's stories from their thoughts, I don't like to invade their privacy that way if I can help it. I think that their stories are theirs to tell and maybe they will tell you it someday."

She nodded her understanding and it became momentarily quiet. It was at this point that her stomach growled, making me laugh. "I'm sorry; I'm keeping you from dinner."

"I'm fine, really." She shook her head in denial.

"I've never spent much time around anyone who eats food, aside from Lilly once in a while, but I don't think that counts since she doesn't eat three meals a day or anything close, so I tend to forget." I apologized.

"I want to stay with you." She admitted softly.

I pursed my lips. "Can't I come in?" I asked.

"Would you like to?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes, if it's all right." I flitted quickly out my door and appeared outside of hers as I opened it for her.

"Very human," She complimented me.

"It's definitely resurfacing." I joked.

I walked beside her in the night, so quietly that I noticed her peaking at me constantly to be sure I was still there.

I reached the door ahead of her and opened it for her. She paused halfway through the frame.

"The door was unlocked?" She asked in confusion.

"No, I used the key from under the eve." I admitted sheepishly.

She stepped inside, flicked on the porch light, and turned to look at me with her eyebrows raised in a silent question.

"I was curious about you." I admitted.

"You spied on me?" She asked, obviously flattered which surprised me, once again. She always tends to surprise me with her reactions and the things that she does. It was one of the things that I really liked about her.

"What else is there to do at night?" I shrugged.

She didn't say anything more on the topic and went down the hall to the kitchen. I was there before her, not needing a guide or tour of the house since I've been here before. I sat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table and watched as she began to make her dinner.

(Jasper's POV)

It was early morning now as I lay in bed completely naked with my little flower curled up and wrapped around my body as I held her tightly. The flutter of her heart was lulling me into a state of complete and utter bliss as I realized that my life couldn't get any more perfect right now. It quickly became my most favorite sound in my world, right alongside with her angelic voice.

Lilly was currently taking a small cat nap as she always did once a week. I was envious of that ability, but I was hoping that one day I could get as close to it as I could. You never know!

I heard the front door open and close, making me realize that Edward must finally be home from Bella's. Lilly was proud of him, that he was able to spend the entire day with his singer and not try to take a bite out of her. I was just sick of hearing about that whole thing. Alice had been keeping an eye on them the entire day and continued to give her a play by play of their entire date until Rosalie snapped on her, telling her that she was sick and tired of hearing about the stupid human. Personally, I agreed with her on that. I still wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having a human know about our world, let alone begin to invade it. I didn't like how it put Lilly at risk and made my opinion of the subject known.

It made me feel a little bit better, knowing that Alice saw that since Edward didn't kill her yesterday, that he fate was sealed to be one of us. The sooner, the better, in my opinion, because I wanted Lilly out of risk as soon as possible, though I knew Edward wasn't so keen on the subject of Bella becoming one of us. The whole things just royally pissed me off.

I could feel Lilly begin to stir and then stretch her body out like a kitten, making soft little noises that I found so incredibly cute. She opened her eyes and began to rub the sleep out of them blinking a few times before she looked up at me and gave me a small smile. I smiled back at her and leaned down a placed a chaste kiss on her soft pink lips before pulled back and running my fingers through her long brown curls.

"Hi," I greeted her, still looking in to her beautiful hazel eyes.

"Hey baby," she grinned in return and pushed her love and adoration towards me making my heart begin to swell.

"Mmm…I love you too, Darlin'." I said and pulled her tightly against my chest with my face in the hollow of her neck over my mark and took in her scent. I could feel her doing the same to me as she ran the tip of her nose over her mating mark, sending a burst of euphoric feelings throughout my body and a shiver down my spine.

She pulled back first and still had a small smile on her beautiful face. "So, what do want to do today?" She asked, sleep still in her voice.

"Hmmm…" I began to think. "Well, we could work on your gift as well if you would like, now that we know for sure that it can be made stronger? Lilith really seemed to know what she was doing and if she can do it, than you can do it."

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! I always wanted to get a handle on my gift, but never had any one to help me work on it, considering no one could know about it." She sighed.

"Well now you have plenty of people who know about it who I'm sure would love to help you." I smirked and gave her a squeeze before pulling her out of the bed and to the shower to get ready for the day.

We were all dressed and ready for the day. Lilly looked amazing as always, wearing a light faded jean skirt with a tight pink t-shirt and grey vest. Her long hair was pulled half up and half down into beautiful rhinestone clips with matching jewelry. I was wearing a pair of light faded jeans with a grey long sleeve shirt that matched Lil's vest. Lil pulled me down the stairs and into the kitchen where Esme was unloading a bunch of human food as Edward was sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar. I gave Esme a questioning look as to why she bought so much human food, knowing that Lilly only at that stuff once a week.

"Hey Edward!" She grinned and kissed his cheek in greeting. I bit back a growl, hating that she kissed him, even if it didn't mean anything. I never said anything about it though, knowing that it was just how she was raised, considering Canada's population is mainly French. "Did you have fun with Bella yesterday?"

"Yeah," He nodded with a love struck smile at the mention of his human mate's name.

"Speaking of which, I wanted to let you know how proud I am of you." She happily congratulated him. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks," Edward said. "It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. More like mind over matter."

"I'm glad." Lilly said bumping his shoulder with hers. "You'll have to tell me all about it later." She said before hopping off the chair next to Edward and bouncing over to Esme to help her with the last of the human food that she was putting away.

Rose and Emmett appeared in the kitchen followed by Carlisle since he just got home from working the night shift at the hospital. He kissed Esme's cheek and set his brief case down on the kitchen counter, leaning on the counter to overlook the room.

"Where've you been all night?" Emmett asked the second that he spotted Edward, who eyed him as if to say 'everything is fine, but please don't press me for details.' "Seriously, man. We've all been worried. What happened yesterday?"

"Yeah, how did your big day with the human go?" Rose chimed in sarcastically. "Did you actually manage not to kill her?"

"What's it to you?" Edward snapped. "I thought you wanted me to just get it over with."

"I don't want to move again, Edward!" She yelled.

Edward smirked at her, not saying any more as Alice flitted down the stairs and in to the kitchen. "Of course he didn't kill her, Rose. I told you, he loves her!"

"Yeah, have a little faith." Lilly said putting an arm around her shoulder and giving her an affectionate squeeze.

Rose just rolled her eyes, most likely insulting Edward in her head after giving Lilly a small smile.

"Oh, that's right," I added, annoyed that all of this was happening at all. "You're in love with her now. And I thought I had problems controlling myself."

He glared at me as Lilly gave me a pleading look and Emmett doubled over in laughter. "So how's that going anyway?" he chuckled trying to contain his laughter.

"Alice, I assume you'll fill them all in," Edward said sourly, racing out of the room as Emmett started to make a very inappropriate joke at his expense.

Alice went on to tell us all of the highlights of Edward's day with Bella yesterday. I guess it was impressive that he was able to get as close to her as he did without taking a bite out of her. Carlisle and Esme were beaming the entire time as she went on to tell them about Edward deciding to stay the night at Bella's with her knowledge for a change.

After she finished with her explanation, Carlisle disappeared out of the kitchen, most likely to talk to Edward about everything that was learned as we hung out and chatted absentmindedly. I pulled Lilly against my chest and wrapped my arms around her as we laughed at something Emmett was saying.

About twenty minutes later, Edward appeared back into the kitchen, freshly showered and changed for the day. He leaned on the frame of the entryway with his arms crossed over his chest as he listened to the conversation. He was anxious about something and I was sure that we would be finding out why very shortly.

"Esme, would you mind if I brought Bella over today?" Edward asked as I snapped my attention to Edward in shock that he wanted to bring a human to the one place that I didn't have to worry so much about my thirst and human façade.

Esme's face beamed. "Of course! Oh, Edward, this is so wonderful! I was wondering why Alice insisted I go shopping for all of this human food! I knew Lilly didn't eat anywhere near this much, but it all makes sense now!" She flew to his side and cupped his face with her hands and kissed both of his cheeks making him chuckle.

Well, I guess that answers why all of this human food is now in the house.

She gave Edward another squeeze before releasing him and turning her attention to the rest of us. "Come, now! Let's make the house presentable for our guest! Boys, pick up your chess boards, please!" She began flying around the living room, fluffing pillows and straightening out any blankets or loose objects.

Emmett grumbled as he and I began to gather up our mock battle field as Rosalie sat stiffly down in the lazy boy chair, scowling around the room. Lilly was speeding around the room with Windex as she helped with the dusting at vampire speed.

Edward appeared beside me and pulled me to the side. "Make sure that you don't get too close to Bella. I know that you started this new diet and all, but I don't want to risk Bella's safety. Especially since you will be feeding off of everyone's blood lust towards her, especially mine for my singer." He paused and looked at me solemnly. "I'm not saying this to be mean or cause any problems; it's just that I want to take any precautions necessary."

I sighed and nodded my head. "I understand, Edward. I would be just as cautious with Lilly if she had human blood in her veins. I'll make sure to give her a wide birth."

"Thanks, brother." He said giving me a manly pat on the back and continued to help clean up the house.

Alice flitted over to Edward's side and began to look him up and down. "I guess this outfit will due for today." She smiled before getting pulled in to a vision.

"Will Bella be safe tonight?" Edward asked once Alice came back to the present.

"As far as I can tell, she will be." She said confidently. "You will be with her, so I don't see a problem."

"What did you see?" Lilly asked as she took my hand in hers.

"I saw three vampires in our region. They looked to be nomadic, perhaps with a bond to each other. One of them is going to catch our scent along the border. If they keep up their current pace, they should be here tomorrow."

Lilly absentmindedly nodded, running her hand up and down my fore arm. I smile down at her and placed a kiss on her lips.

"So what, are you spending nights at the human's house now?" Rose asked through gritted teeth as she still sat in the chair with her arms folded over her chest, clearly refusing to help with the cleaning since it was for Bella.

"Didn't you know, he's been spending nights there for a while? Just…now she knows that he's there," Emmett laughed loudly as Lilly gave him a disapproving look and shook her head.

Edward snapped, lunging at Emmett and knocking him to the floor. He managed to get a hit in before Emmett was able to get him when he wasn't expecting it and pinned him to the floor.

"Why so touchy?" he smirked and Alice giggled.

"Alice, a word please?" Edward said sourly as Emmett let him up.

"Of course," she smiled, streaking out of the room. Edward followed her as he glared at the rest of us, excluding Lilly who let out a loud sigh of exasperation.

We all stayed quiet as we listened to the conversation in the other room between Edward and Alice, anxious to overhear what made him snap. Rose exited the room as well and made her way back in to the kitchen where Esme had disappeared to, most likely still cleaning up for Bella.

"Don't be mad at me?" She pleaded as soon as they got in to the other room.

"I'm not mad," He lied. "I just would have thought you'd have shown a little more respect for Bella. You are still planning on being friends with her, aren't you?"

There was a brief silence where I assumed that Alice was saying something in her head to Edward before he spoke again.

"Alice, I just wish you would keep your thoughts to yourself. Don't you think it's embarrassing enough, my knowing you can see everything that happens between us? Aren't we allowed a little privacy?"

I couldn't blame him on that one, but I knew that if I was going to do something with Lilly that I didn't want Alice to see, I would just have Lil use her gift on Alice so that she wasn't able to look in to our future for an allotted time.

"I was just looking out for her, Edward," She said sulkily. "I thought you wanted me to keep an eye on Bella's future."

"I do, Just maybe don't keep quite so close an eye when I'm with her. And don't repeat everything you see to everyone else."

"But I thought…" She trailed off.

"I know. We both thought I was the greatest danger in her life. And maybe I still am. But after yesterday…I don't know, it doesn't really feel like it anymore. Now I'm more," He paused. "I guess now I'm more worried about something happening to her when I'm not there to protect her. She's so fragile. I can hardly stand to let her out of my sight."

I heard Alice move and kiss his cheek. "Then what are you still doing here?" She asked wryly. "Go back to her. And I promise to try my very hardest to keep my head out of it."

"Thank you," He said sincerely.

I could hear Alice as she turned to leave, but then added, "Oh, and Edward?"

"Yes?"

"Go out the back. They're still not done making jokes you probably don't want to hear." She suggested and Emmett smirked evilly, causing me to laugh as he disappeared out of the room, going the same way that Rosalie did.

"Thanks for the tip." Edward sighed.

Moments later, Alice appeared back in the room at the same time as Esme, who had a glum look on her face.

"What's wrong, Esme?" I asked.

"Rosalie left. She said she wouldn't be in the same room as Bella. Emmett just went after her to try to convince her to come back." She shook her head. "I don't understand, after all of this time, how she could still hold a grudge against Edward like this. She should be glad that he has finally found someone, that he's finally happy again." She shook her head again, her caramel color hair moving with the motions.

"Oh, well I'm sure she will come around eventually." Lilly said with a hopeful smile. I didn't want to bust her bubble, knowing Rose. If she did manage to get over the whole Bella and Edward situation, I doubt it will be any time soon.

"Come on, Lee." I said, pulling her by her hand out of the room, trying to get her mind on something else. "Let's go work on that gift of yours for now."

"Okay!" She grinned and picked up her pace to match mine as we made it back up to my room and opened the doors to my balcony. We then jumped up and in to the nearest try and continued to climb until we got to our favorite branch where we would always sit and talk as the cool breeze blew through her beautiful brown hair and got ready to work.

A/N: So, what did everyone think about the chapter? Will Bella's visit with the Cullen's go well? Uh oh! James and his coven are brought in to the mix now! What will their reactions be to Lilly and Bella?

Read and Review! If you have any questions or comments, post them in my reviews for the story and I will answer them in my next Author's Note!

Dalonega Noquisi: Good Chap! (Ch 19) And it had my second fav character, Paul! I love him ;) If the Cullen's leave Lilly behind, will Paul be her shoulder to cry on?

I know I haven't really elaborated much on Paul and Lilly's relationship and I haven't for a reason. I don't want to spoil the story and answer if he has imprinted on her or not, nor if the Cullen's are going to leave Lilly behind in the Sequel, but their relationship will become very strong in the future and I promise you will find out more about their relationship and what will happen between the two in the future; if not in this book, but the next few stories.

If you enjoyed this story so far, check out some of my other stories on my FanFiction page! Also, I am still accepting Twilight stories that involve Jasper/any female leads or Bella/selected male leads if anyone is looking for a Beta Reader. I will make exceptions on the characters depending on the plot. PM me for details!
- Bella'Xo
Xo BellaItalia oX