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 21
(Lilly's POV)

"Okay, now concentrate, Darlin'." Jasper encouraged me, holding an egg corn in his right hand and trying to get me to teleport it to his left hand without the use of levitation. "Picture the egg corn in my left hand and gone from my right."

I continued to do exactly as he instructed as I sat in between his legs with my back against his chest. He's had plenty of experience working with gifted vampires when he was working for Maria in her army, so he knows what he was talking about. So far, I had successfully teleported a small piece of bark about a foot, and now I was doing a larger object to a further distance. I kept reminding myself that if Lilith can do it, than I can as well, because we are one in the same. Jasper said that it was a good thing to think about when I got discouraged.

Finally, after another two minutes of concentrating solely on the egg corn, I watched as it disappeared from Jasper's right hand and in to his left.

"Great job, sweet heart!" Jasper praised, wrapping his arms tightly around me and kissing his mark on my neck. The feeling sent a shiver of desire and euphoria through my body as it always does whenever attention is paid to his mark. "Pretty soon, you'll be able to teleport me from the other side of the world to right in front of you. We'll never have to use a plane again!"

"I don't know about that." I chuckled, shaking my head. "They say that the journey is the best part of the trip."

"True," I could feel him smirking against my shoulder.

We kept on practicing for the next hour until we heard Alice squeal as she danced around the second floor. "They're here! They're here!" She chirped excitedly.

I laughed quietly to myself and shook my head at her antics, but my laughter then ceased when I felt Jasper tense behind me. I turned to look at him and saw an almost nervous, panicked expression gracing his features.

I fixed myself so that I was now completely facing him and straddling his waist. I brought his attention to me by placing my hand around his neck, resulting in him looking straight at me.

"Qu'est-cequi ne va pas, ma chérie? " (What's wrong, my darling?) I asked him in concern.

He sighed and looked down. It was as if he was not able to look me in the eyes as he told me.

"What if I can't control myself?" He whispered. "Her blood is so enticing…what if I slip? Edward will never forgive me and neither will you if I hurt your best friend." He looked up at me, his eyes full of anguish. "I can't bear to disappoint you or the family again."

"Oh, baby, that will never happen." I said with conviction. "You could demolish an entire town and I will still stand behind you. Nothing you do could disappoint me, because I know the type of man you are and you would never do something like that now. If it was a mistake, I can't hold something like that against you; everyone makes mistakes. All I ask is that you try. I will be there with you every step of the way to help and support you."

He lightly cupped my jaw and ran his thumb across my cheek bone. "Promise?" he asked as he did this.

"Always," I nodded giving him an encouraging smile.

"Okay, then." Jasper said with a crooked smile. "Let me get my bearings and then we will go in and say 'hello.'"

He pulled me flush against his chest so that my heart would beat against his in the way that I knew always calmed him in every way. He always told me that my heart beat was his favorite sound in the world and it always relaxed him and made him as content as he could ever be.

We sat like this in silence as I listened as Edward helped Bella out of his Volvo. I could almost picture their facial expressions as I overheard them move and talk.

(Bella's POV)

"Wow," I gasped as I took in the Cullen's home for the first time.

I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't this. The house was timeless, graceful, and probably a hundred years old. It was painted a soft, faded white, three stories tall- not including the basement- rectangular and well proportioned. The windows were either part of the original structure or a perfect restoration. Some of the walls were even completely made of glass, making it easy to see directly into the whole room. My truck was the only car in sight. I could hear the river close by, hidden in the obscurity of the forest.

"You like it?" Edward smiled.

"It…has a certain charm." I complimented.

He pulled the end of my ponytail and chuckled.

"Lilly had the same reaction." he said, opening my door. "Ready?"

"Not even a little bit – let's go." I tried to laugh, but it seemed to get stuck in my throat. I smoothed my hair nervously.

"You look lovely." He took my hand easily, without even thinking about it.

We walked through the deep shade up to the porch. I knew he could feel my tension; his thumb rubbed soothing circles into the back of my hand.

He opened the door for me.

The inside was even more surprising, less predictable, than the exterior. It was very bright, very open, and very large. This must have originally been several rooms, but the walls had been removed from most of the first floor to create one wide space. The back, south-facing wall had been entirely replaced with glass, and, beyond the shade of the cedars, the lawn stretched bare to the wide river. A massive curving staircase dominated the west side of the room. The walls, the high-beamed ceiling, the wooden floors, and the thick carpets were all varying shades of white.

"It's so light and open in here." I observed out loud.

Edward chuckled. "Well, what did you expect; coffins and dungeons and moats?"

"No, not the moats." I smirked.

"Not the moats." Edward repeated, shaking his head in silent laughter.

Waiting to greet us, standing just to the left of the door, on a raised portion of the floor by a spectacular grand piano, were Edward's parents.

I'd seen Dr. Cullen before, of course, yet I couldn't help but be struck by his youth, his outrageous perfection. At his side was Esme, I assumed, the only one of the family I'd never seen before. She had the same pale, beautiful features as the rest of them. The same as Lilly had, aside from the bright, hazel eyes that seemed to change with her mood, where the rest of them had various shades of gold. Something about Esme's heart-shaped face, her billows of soft caramel hair, reminded me of the ingénues of the silent-movie era. She was small, slender, yet less angular, more rounded than the others.

They were both dressed casually, in light colors that matched the inside of the house. They smiled in welcome, but made no move to approach us. Trying not to frighten me, I guessed.

"Carlisle, Esme," Edward's voice broke the short silence as I continued to take everything in. "This is Bella."

"You're very welcome, Bella." Carlisle's step was measured carefully as he approached me. He raised his hand tentatively, and I stepped forward with determination and slight nervousness to shake his hand.

"It's nice to see you again, Dr. Cullen."

"Please, call me Carlisle."

"Carlisle," I grinned at him, trying it on for size. My sudden confidence surprised me and I could feel Edward's relief at my side.

Esme smiled and stepped forward as well, reaching for my hand. He cold, stone grasp was just as I expected. "It's very nice to know you," she said sincerely.

"Thank you. I'm glad to meet you, too." And I was. It was like meeting a fairy tale – Snow White, in the flesh.

"Where are Alice, Lilly and Jasper?" Edward asked, but no one answered, as Alice just appeared at the top of the wide stair case.

"Hey, Edward!" Alice called enthusiastically. She ran down the stairs, a streak of black hair and white skin, coming to a sudden graceful stop in front of me. Carlisle and Esme shot warning glances at her, but I liked it. It was natural – for her, anyway.

"Hi, Bella!" Alice said, and she bounced forward to kiss my cheek. If Carlisle and Esme had looked cautious before, they now looked staggered. There was shock in my eyes, too, but I was also very pleased that someone besides Lilly seemed to approve of me so entirely. I was startled to feel Edward stiffen at my side. I glanced at his face, but it was unreadable.

"You do smell nice, I never noticed before," she commented, to my extreme embarrassment.

It was then that Lilly and Jasper appeared through one of the large window/walls that was slid open, almost like a sliding glass door. A large cedar tree was right up against the house and they seemed to walk along the branch as if they were walking across the regular hard wood floor.

Lilly hopped through the window first, followed by Jasper as she held on to his hand and drug him across the room towards the rest of us.

(Lilly's POV)

"Hey Bells!" I grinned at my best friends, letting go of Jasper's hand as I walked the last few steps up to Bella and pulled her in to a tight hug that she returned eagerly.

"Hi Lee," she responded, giving me an extra squeeze before pulling back with a wide smile.

"Don't mind Alice," I joked, referring to Alice's comment about her scent, "she's a little eccentric."

"Hey!" Alice pouted, crossing her tiny arms over her small body.

"Oh, you are and you like it!" Edward grinned, causing Alice to break her façade and smile a bit.

"Bella," I said getting her attention and grabbing Jasper's hand, pulling him a bit closer towards her. "This is my mate, Jasper."

"Hello, Bella," Jasper said, but he kept his distance, not offering to shake her hand. But it was impossible to feel awkward near him, and I could tell Bella felt the same way.

"Hello, Jasper." She smiled at him shyly, and then back at the others again. "It's nice to meet you all – you have a very beautiful home," she added conventionally.

"Thank you," Esme said, clearly pleased that Bella liked it, considering she designed and decorated everything herself. "We're so glad that you came. Lilly and Edward speak very highly of you." She spoke with feeling, and I realize that she thought that Bella was brave. I didn't doubt that, either. After all, she was in a house full of seven vampires and a Dhampir.

As I looked around, I realized that Rosalie and Emmett were nowhere to be seen and I couldn't sense them in the immediate vicinity. I remembered what Esme had said about Rosalie running off earlier and Emmett going to try to talk to her, but it appears that he either wasn't successful, they were still speaking, or they were still…'speaking,' if you want to call it that. You never know with those two. They had a very healthy sexual appetite; then again…Jasper and I weren't much better.

Carlisle's expression distracted me from this train of thought; he was gazing meaningfully at Edward with an intense expression. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward discretely nod once. I realized that he must be informing him about Rosalie and Emmett's probable whereabouts and Rose's tantrum earlier. You could clearly see Edward's displeasure and disappointment in his expression, before he quickly changed it; most likely for Bella's sake.

I looked away and noticed that Bella's attention had wandered to Edward's beautiful piano on the platform by the door. Esme seemed to also notice Bella's preoccupation.

"Do you play?" she asked, inclining her head toward the piano.

She shook her head. "No, not at all. But it's so beautiful. Is it yours?"

"No," she laughed. "Edward didn't tell you he was musical?"

"No," she glared at Edward's suddenly innocent expression with narrowed eyes. "I should have known, I guess."

Esme raised her delicate eyebrows in confusion.

"Edward can do everything, right?" She explained.

Jasper snickered and Esme gave Edward a reproving look as I turned to look at Jasper, trying to hide my amusement from the rest of them. "I hope you haven't been showing off – it's rude," Esme scolded.

"Just a bit," he laughed freely. Her face softened at the sound, and they shared a brief look that I knew meant that she was happy that her first son was so carefree and joyous, though at the same time, her face almost seemed smug.

"He's been too modest, actually," Bella corrected.

"Well, play for her," Esme encouraged.

"You just said showing of was rude," he objected.

"There are exceptions to every rule," she replied with an abet smile.

"I'd like to hear you play," Bella volunteered.

"It's settled then." Esme pushed him toward the piano. He pulled Bella along, sitting her on the bench beside him.

He gave her a long, exasperated look before he turned to the keys.

And then his fingers flowed swiftly across the ivory, and the room was filled with composition so complex, so luxuriant, it was impossible to believe that only one set of hands played. I always loved to listen to him play, and sometimes play along in a duet with him. It was one of the many things that we shared together; our love of music.

I watched as Bella's chin dropped and her mouth opened up in astonishment. Jasper chuckled from behind me as he wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder as we stood at the entrance way to the music room and watched along with everybody else as Edward played for the woman he loved.

Edward looked at Bella casually, the music still surging around us without a break and winked. "Do you like it?"

"You wrote this?" She gasped in understanding.

He nodded. "It's Esme's favorite."

He then looked over his shoulder at me and gave me a nod, telling me to join him.

I looked up at Jasper and placed a kiss on his lips before I made my way over to the piano bench to sit on the other side of Edward.

I listened as he changed the tune and I immediately picked up the song that he was playing. It was a song that we composed last week after the first night that we visited Bella to work on his control.

I began to play with him, letting my fingers glided over the keys, letting the music flow out of the instrument. When we played this composition, I always pictured all of us running through the forest at vampire speed, laughing as we danced around the trees.

"Lilly and I wrote this last week." Edward explained to Bella as he looked from the keys to her.

"I love it." She smiled, watching our fingers play.

We continued for a few more moments and got to the part where the speed picks up and the tune changes a bit. I saw out of the corner of my eye as Bella closed her eyes and shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked her concerned.

"I'm feeling extremely insignificant."

Edward looked over at me and I immediately knew what he wanted as we slowed the song to the point where I stopped playing and he began to transform the music into something softer, and clearly detected as a lullaby, weaving through the profusion of notes.

"You inspired this one," he said softly as the music grew unbearably sweet.

She couldn't speak.

I quietly got off of the bench and flitted in to Jasper's arms and he pulled me around the corner, leaving only Esme, Bella and Edward as we collapsed on to the couch, still in each other's arms.

"See? That wasn't so bad and you were okay." I smiled affectionately at him, pushing my pride at the small accomplishment towards him.

He smiled back a loving smile and placed a chaste kiss on my lips. "You're right, though I she still has one of the sweetest smelling scents I've ever smelled from a human."

"I can't disagree with you on that one, Amoureux. " (Sweetheart) I nodded. "But that only makes my pride in you that much more."

He grinned and kissed my temple before he leaned over to the coffee table and picked up the remote for the television and put on an interesting documentary on the different kinds of battleships that were used for the all of the major wars throughout history.

About an hour later and about 15 minutes in to the 'Top 10 Fighter Jets,' Alice appeared in front of the TV practically bouncing on her heals.

"Guess what?" She asked. "It's going to thunder storm tonight!"

"Really?" Jasper asks sitting up a little straighter. Alice nods enthusiastically as Jasper shifts me in his arms. "Awesome!"

"Who else is playing?" I asked.

"Well, Emmett and Rose just got back and they are both in, plus you two and myself, and I was just getting ready to go and ask Edward if he wants to join. Want to come?" She asked.

I look to Jasper and he lets out a sigh before nodding at my eager expression before helping me up off the couch and following behind Alice and I as we make our way to the staircase.

(Jasper's POV)

There was growls and laughing coming from inside of Edward's room, followed by a lot of commotion. I looked at Lilly in confusion and she just shrugged and continued to follow behind Alice down the hall to Edward's door.

"You were saying?" Edward growled playfully.

"That you are a very, very terrifying monster," Bella said, sarcasm marred a bit by her breathless voice.

"Much better," Edward approved.

"Um…" I could hear Bella attempt to struggle. "Can I get up now?"

He just laughed before Alice knocked on his door.

"Can we come in?" Alice asked opening the door.

Bella continued to struggle to free herself, but Edward merely readjusted her so that she was somewhat more conventionally seated on his lap. Her cheeks began to flush as her blush burned her cheeks, but Edward seemed at ease.

"Go ahead." Edward said still chuckling quietly

Alice and Lilly seemed to find nothing unusual in their embrace; Alice danced to the center of the room, where she folded herself sinuously onto the floor, while Lilly walked in and took a seat on his couch. I, however, paused at the door, my expression a trifle shocked. How was Edward able to be so close and act so freely with his singer? How was he able to hold her so close to him? I mean, I can feel his blood lust, and yet, he is still able to hold her like that.

"It sounded like you were having Bella for lunch, and we came to see if you would share," Alice announced, breaking me out of my inner musings.

Lilly giggled, while Bella stiffened for an instant, until she looked at Edward and saw that he was grinning – whether at Alice's comment or at Bella's response, I couldn't tell.

"Sorry, I don't believe I have enough to spare," he replied, his arms holding her recklessly close.

"Actually," I said, smiling despite myself as I walked into the room, "Alice says there's going to be a real storm tonight, and Emmett wants to play ball. Are you game?" I asked eager for some active fun.

Edward's eyes lit up, but he hesitated.

"Of course you should bring Bella," Alice chirped.

I threw a quick glance at Alice in surprise, and then at Lilly, who seemed pleased with the idea and decided to just let it go for now. It seemed to make Lilly happy, regardless of what Alice was thinking, and I would do anything to make her smile as much as possible. Besides, if we were going to be outside, her scent shouldn't be as strong out there.

"Do you want to go?" Edward asked her, excitement clear in his expression.

"Sure." She smiled shyly. "Um, where are we going?"

"We have to wait for thunder to play ball – you'll see why," Lilly promised.

"Will I need an umbrella?" Bella asked and all four of us laughed aloud.

"Will she?" I asked Alice, trying to get an answer to Bella's question.

"No." She was positive. "The storm will hit over town. It should be dry enough in the clearing."

"Good, then." I said enthusiasm beginning to flow from me through my gift. Realizing this, I pulled it back after seeing Bella begin to become eager, rather than scared stiff.

"Let's go see if Carlisle will come." Alice bounded up and to the door in a fashion that would break any ballerina's heart.

"Like you don't know," Lilly teased, taking my offered hand and pulling herself off of the couch. We walked out of the door and I managed to inconspicuously close the door behind us.

A/N: So that was Bella's first meeting with the Cullen's. What did you think? I hope you enjoyed it! Next will be the baseball game and their run-in with the Nomads! Dun Dun Dunnnnn!

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

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
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