11. Family Moments

April 2010

Astoria, Oregon

Amelia

I'm not entirely certain how I ended up having a paint fight with the Cullen matriarch, but I did. Admittedly, I probably started it. I'm sure if I used my perfect recall I could have figured it out, but I honestly wasn't that bothered.

We both looked around at the paint-splattered room.

"Do you think they'd buy it if we claimed we meant for it to look like this?" I asked uncertainly.

"Not for a second," Esme replied.

"Be fun to watch their reactions though," I said wonderingly.

"Well, Carlisle should be home soon. Do you want to give it a try?" Esme asked me, a mischievous smirk on her face.

"Yeah! We should, like, act proper serious though," I replied enthusiastically.

"You know, apparently Carlisle could never hate anything designed by me, so this should be interesting."

"You're a mischievous one, Mummy Cullen, you know that?" She smiled at my nickname for her as I'd known she would.

Twenty minutes later, we heard Carlisle arrive home from the hospital.

"Up here," Esme shouted. "Do you like it?" she asked as her husband walked into the room. I watched on from the side as she smiled sweetly and Carlisle quickly composed his face.

"It's, um, different," Carlisle finally said.

"Don't you like it?" Esme asked, doing her very best to sound wounded. I resisted the urge to giggle and tried to keep my face straight.

"No, no, love. It looks lovely. It's just a little different to your usual designs," Carlisle said quickly.

"I think I might paint some of the other rooms like this," Esme said innocently.

"That's certainly an interesting idea, dear."

"Maybe with brighter colors though," Esme continued. I had no idea how she was managing to speak so convincingly without smiling; I was struggling to keep my laughter in on the sidelines. Carlisle's face was a picture, though he kept trying to hide it, which just made it funnier. "How about purple? Or green?" Esme continued.

"Whatever you think would look nice, darling." Carlisle's confusion was evident in his voice despite his best efforts.

Esme giggled, clearly unable to hold her amusement in anymore. "No, Carlisle," she said between her laughter, "the correct answer is 'no, Esme, don't paint our house purple and green, it'll look horrible.'" We were both laughing our heads off by now while Carlisle watched us, bemused.

"You were winding me up, weren't you?" he asked.

"No, Carlisle, I really want to paint our house purple and green," Esme said sarcastically.

"You're a little minx, you know that?" Carlisle said before pulling her into a deep kiss. I cleared my throat purposefully to remind them off my presence.

"Oh, hello, Amelia," Carlisle said, looking a little sheepish. "And what part did you play in this little trick?"

"Don't look at me, it was your wife's idea," I said.

"Yes, but you started the paint war to begin with," Esme reminded me.

"Well, yeah," I agreed. "I think I'm going to leave you two alone now. I might go hunting once Harry returns from school."

"Actually, Amelia, you seem to have enough control to go into the forest to hunt alone now."

"OK, Carlisle," I said as I left. I got to the doorway, but as always I couldn't resist saying what was on my mind. "By the way, that was the least subtle thing ever in the history of unsubtle things. You may as well have just said 'get the hell out of my house, Amelia, I want to fuck my wife'," I called as I left the room.

"Amelia!" they both shouted at me.

"Sorry, 'make love' or whatever you want to call it. And I'm going to stop talking now because this is just getting creepy. Eww, parent sex." I scrunched my nose up and shook my head in over-exaggerated disgust, even though they couldn't see me anymore. I heard them laughing behind me. I stopped at my room to pick up a book before leaving the house – I had no intention of returning until a lot of time had passed, and therefore I would know it would be safe.

I was happily reading in the middle of the forest when I picked up a familiar scent on the wind. My face split involuntarily into a smile.

"Alice sent me to tell you it's safe to return home now," Harry said as he walked up to me.

I shrugged. "I'm quite happy here. Even happier now."

Harry laughed and came to sit next to me. "I missed you," he whispered in my ear.

"I missed you too," I whispered back. Our lips met and I allowed myself to be overtaken by the delightful sensation. Too soon for my liking, Harry pulled away. I tried to pull him back to me but he resisted.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to disguise my hurt.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "It's just, where, or should I say when, I come from, you wouldn't do something so risqué when you were only courting."

I knew he was trying to be serious but I couldn't stop myself from laughing. It was the word 'courting' that sent me over the edge. It was a word my Grandma used to use and it always amused me because it sounded so silly.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked. This time it was his turn to be defensive.

"Sorry. It just sounded so old-timey, especially 'courting'." I did little quote marks with my hands when I said the word. "People don't 'court' nowadays." I couldn't hide the amusement from my voice.

"What do they do then?" he asked.

"I dunno. Date. Go out. See each other."

"Well, that sounds even stupider in my opinion," he huffed.

"When were you born?" I asked curiously. I always forgot the Cullens were decades, or even centuries, older than me. I couldn't quite get my head around that sort of lifespan, and they all looked so young, it was easy to forget they weren't actually in their twenties or teenagers.

"1829," he answered.

"So that's like, Victorian era?"

"Just before, I was eight when she took the throne."

"When were you changed?" I had always wondered what age Harry was frozen at, as he didn't look much older than me, but he had a much more mature air to him.

"1848. I was nineteen."

"What happened? You said on the plane you were changed by someone other than Carlisle." I had sensed this was a hard topic for Harry, but I couldn't help but be curious. Didn't I deserve to know more about the man I loved?

"Like I said. It's a long story." I could tell that meant he still had no wish to talk about it.

"What was it like? The Victorian era, I mean."

"I barely remember it now. It was very different to the world we live in today. You would have been considered a harlot for showing ankle like that, you scandalous women." His eyes travelled briefly over my exposed legs before he looked me in the eyes again. The attention made me almost tingle with excitement. "My father was an industrialist; the industrial revolution was in full swing at that time. My grandfather had been the typical, heavy-fisted factory owner you read about in history books, but my father was more of a radical." I saw his face screw up in concentration. I remembered how blurry my human memories were becoming and wondered how bad it must be after a century and a half had passed. "Before my grandfather died and Father took control of the factories, he worked on a government report looking into the working and living conditions of the working class, and he was shocked by what he found. Do you know what Saltaire is?"

"Yeah, we did it in history. That, um, factory owner guy built a town for his workers so they wouldn't live in such crap conditions, right?"

"Titus Salt? Yeah, he was a friend of Father's. Father wanted to build a town as well; they were going to build them at the same time. Flagship communities – one in the South and one in the North."

"I don't remember learning about another town."

"You wouldn't. Father's never got built," he said sadly.

"What happened?" I asked gently. He looked away, and I had a feeling I had pushed him too far.

"He sounds like a good man, your father," I said, trying to cheer him up, though discussing his presumably long dead father probably wasn't the safest way to do it.

"He was. He was even anti-Empire, and an abolitionist, because he took a trip to Africa in his youth before he married my mother. You didn't get many anti-Empire men in Victorian England. Paradoxically though, despite being what most would have considered a radical, he was also a stern monarchist. He may not have believed in the Empire, but he was glad they at least named the land they snatched after the Queen." He chuckled slightly at the memories. "I blame him for the fact that-" he cut off then uncomfortably and looked away again.

"Harry?" I said beseechingly.

"Whenever Jasper annoys me, I point out that the Confederacy lost the civil war here, and he always replies with the fact that Britain no longer has her Empire. Now for most people from Victorian England that would be a huge insult, but it just makes me happy, because I imagine my father looking down from Heaven and feeling contented as each country gained it's independence over the course of the last century." I smiled at him, but I didn't miss that he still had not explained his hesitation earlier. I decided not to push him.

"Shall we go home then?" he asked, standing up.

"It's definitely safe? We're not going to walk in on Carlisle trying to fuck Esme's brains out?"

Harry gave a shocked snort of laughter. "Thank you for that. That was a mental image I could have done without."

"You're welcome."

Harry

"Do you think you could turn the anxiousness down a notch?" Jasper asked.

"You and Alice could have driven home with Rosalie and Emmett," I retorted back. He shut up. Nobody liked having to share a car with Rosalie and Emmett, our talents made it uncomfortable for Jasper, Edward, or myself. This is why all five of us always ended up crammed into Edward's Volvo, while Rosalie and Emmett got to drive in her BMW by themselves.

I smiled happily when we finally arrived home. Even Cullen driving speed hadn't got me there fast enough. I went upstairs to Amelia's room like a shot. I knocked on her door.

"Come in," she shouted; she still hadn't realized she no longer had to shout. I smiled happily as I walked into her room and her scent washed over me.

"What you reading?" I asked, eyeing the book in her hands. She put it down next to a book with a similar drawing on the front. There was a hint of whimsy to her scent.

"Hey," she said, pulling me down for a kiss. I sat down next to her on the bed, wrapping one arm around her. I picked up the book discarded on her bedside cabinet. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," I read from the front cover.

"Philosopher's," Amelia corrected me. Stubbornness briefly entered the room, making me smile. Only Amelia could make stubbornness smell nice.

"No, love, it definitely says 'sorcerer's'." Amelia simply tutted at me but didn't expand on her comment.

"What's that one?" I asked, looking at the other book.

"The second one. Chamber of Secrets." She said it like I should understand what she meant.

"I read them as a human," she said sadly. "I used to get excited each time a new book came out, but I never went to the store dressed as a witch. I wasn't that bad." Again she spoke like I should understand what she was talking about, but I didn't have a clue. "I'm sure you remember the Harry Potter mania of the noughties?"

That's why I don't understand what's going on. Whatever 'Harry Potter mania' is, it happened while I was starving myself in a cave.

"Ummm," I said hesitatingly. A part of me knew I would have to tell Amelia about my past some day, but I didn't want to. She was so innocent, so oblivious to the vileness of the vampire world outside our cosy little vegetarian family.

"Or not," she continued. "I guess books about wizards don't go down well with vampires. What about vampire books? There's a bit of a trend for vampires in pop culture at the moment," she said with a laugh. "Not that any of it's very accurate. Did you ever watch True Blood or Vampire Diaries?" I shook my head. "I guess you wouldn't. I'm sure if I watched them now they'd seem ridiculous. I don't actually remember much about the plots. True Blood had the creepiest opening credits though."

She leaned across and picked up one of the books. "I've read the first one now. It's weird considering how many times I re-read these books as a child that I'd all but forgotten the plots. It does make it more fun to re-read them again. I guess it's a one-time deal though, because I'm never going to forget now. You should read it. It's a good book, I promise." She passed me the book she had picked up and then picked up the second one. I looked at it, intrigued by this little piece of Amelia's human life.

"Where did you get them from anyway?" I asked.

"I happened to mention to Esme and Bella that I'd read all their books, and all of Carlisle's that aren't medical, which admittedly isn't that many."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "You really do read fast, even for a vampire."

"Anyway, while Alice and Esme were shopping yesterday, Esme remembered what I'd said, and Alice 'saw' that I would like these because I read them as a human." The sad look came over her face again. "I got the first three as a box set for Christmas when I was eight." I noticed the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

My arms tightened around her sobbing form and we simply lay like that for a few minutes.

"Sorry," she finally said.

"It's OK," I murmured, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"How many of these books are there?" I asked.

"Seven. One for each year at Hogwarts." I had no idea what that meant, but I supposed I would find out soon enough as I opened the book she had passed me. Amelia had already returned to reading the second one, snuggling her head against my chest.

I looked at the copyright information. First published in 1997. The very same year I went into the cave. With sudden realization, I recognized the fact that most of Amelia's life had taken place while I was in the cave. The trends and the technology that had affected her life and made her who she was today I knew nothing about. We were two very different people, yet we still fit together perfectly.

I guess it's true what they say about opposites attracting.

Amelia

"Are they always this bad?" I asked Bella and Edward.

"Yes," they replied simultaneously. From the garage, Rosalie's screeches at Emmett became louder.

"So what's wrong with Remmett, anyway?"

"You mean Emmett?" Edward asked.

"No, Remmett."

He looked at me confused. "Are you purposefully not thinking about what you're talking about so I don't understand?"

What? No. Remmett. Rosalie and Emmett.

"Like Brangelina," I said out loud for Bella's sake.

"Oh!"

"See, she gets it," I said to Edward. "Tsk, silly Bedward."

"My name's-" Bella cut him off.

"She's means Bedward as in Bella and Edward, right?"

"That's right," I said happily. "Where are Jalice and Cesme?"

"That's-" This time Edward cut Bella off.

"Jasper and Alice, and Carlisle and Esme. I understand now." He and Bella had that gooey look overcoming both their faces so I left, quickly.

"What you looking at?" I asked Alice as I walked into the living room. She was on the computer while Jasper was watching TV. Carlisle, Esme, and Harry were all upstairs in Carlisle's office talking about whatever serious stuff they talked about, and the wolves had taken Nessie out for the day.

"Paris spring line," she replied. I looked over her shoulder. I knew little about 'fashion' as a concept, but I knew what I thought looked nice or not. We spent a good half an hour searching through the dresses, ordering the good, and laughing at the bad.

"Any chance I could drag my beautiful wife away from the computer?" Jasper drawled as he came to stand beside us. Alice went to shut down the computer.

"I'll go on," I chipped in before she did so. She and Jasper left, and I took over Alice's place in the computer seat. After another five minutes, I grew bored of looking at dresses; it wasn't nearly as much fun without Alice to discuss them with.

I clicked on the address bar at the top, but then paused - what website to go on?

What websites did I go on as human?

Curiosity overtook me as I made my decision and typed the address into the bar. I wanted to check my Facebook account, to see what comments had been left since I 'disappeared'. As soon as I had logged on I quickly turned my chat status to offline, as that would have been difficult to explain. I knew I wouldn't be able to write any replies or make any comments, I just wanted to look at what other people had wrote. I went to my profile. The page was full of messages from people hoping I would come back soon. I didn't even remember some of them. There was a long message from Katie that had me on the verge of tears. But it was the messages from Holly, Nicole, and Emma that sent me over the edge. They'd sent me messages telling me to come back and that they missed me when they knew exactly what had happened to me and that I was never coming back. An uncontrollable anger filled me and I had the sudden urge to throw the computer across the room. Instead I ran out of the house before I could break anything, stopping once I was in the forest. I took deep breaths to calm myself.

Fifteen minutes later, I finally felt calm enough to return home. I found Carlisle, Esme, and Harry looking at the computer screen confused. My Facebook account was still open.

"That's a little rude, don't you think?" I snapped at them; perhaps I should have stayed in the forest a little longer.

"What is this, Amelia?" Carlisle asked curiously.

"What does it look like?" I asked sarcastically. All three shared a confused look.

"It's Facebook," I explained, though it came out in the same voice you would use to explain something to a three-year-old.

"Amelia," Carlisle said softly, "it isn't safe for you to be online like this. You're supposed to be dead."

"I set it to show me as offline and I'm not stupid enough to actually leave a comment, you know," I told him defensively. "And I'm missing actually," I corrected him.

He sighed. "Yes, but eventually we want people to presume your dead. Anything else would be false hope." I glared at him. I knew what he said was true, but that didn't mean I wanted to accept it.

"Amelia," Harry said my name softly. He came to stand next to me, gently interlocking his hand with mine. I pulled my hand away. I was still annoyed - I didn't want sympathy.

"It's still rude," I snapped. "You shouldn't have been looking anyway! And what do you all understand? You're all billions of years old anyway, you're probably confused by the shiny box thing with the pretty colors." I knew I wasn't making any sense anymore but I was too angry to care.

"Centuries, not billions of years, Amelia," Carlisle corrected me gently with a smile.

"Oh, 'to-ma-to', 'ta-mah-tah.'" I said, purposefully emphasizing the different pronunciations.

"Why are you listing vegetables?" Esme asked confused.

"It's a fruit, actually," I snapped back smugly.

"Amelia," Harry said again, trying to get my attention. Not that I could blame him. Why was I arguing with Esme over tomatoes again?

"Just leave me alone!" I shouted at all three of them. Just then Alice and Jasper arrived in the doorway. Jasper was eyeing me accusingly.

"What?" I growled at him. I could see he was resisting the urge to drop into a crouch.

"You're finally acting like a newborn," he said calmly. I felt the strange calming sensation overcoming me again; I didn't fight it or complain this time though. I did need to calm down. "I just wondered why," he continued.

I shrugged. "Because tomatoes are a fruit."

Jasper's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Weirdest. Newborn. Ever. I need to go find Bella and tell her she has officially lost her title."

I felt my temper increasing once more despite Jasper's influence. "Oh, just shut up already! Unless you want me to give you another scar!" I snapped. I clamped my hands over my mouth the second the words came out, as I realized what I'd said. "I'm sorry," I said quickly, hoping to repair the damage.

"It's fine," Jasper said coolly before leaving, Alice following behind him.

"Amelia?" The remaining three all said gently. I looked into their faces, all full of concern and care I didn't deserve at this moment.

"Can you all do me a favor and leave me the fuck alone for a minute."

"Am-"

"Please!" With one last worried glance in my direction, Carlisle and Esme left the room. Only Harry remained. I couldn't face him right now. "Please, Harry. I just need a moment alone," I pleaded. Reluctantly, Harry followed his adopted parents out of the room.

I collapsed onto the computer chair and placed my head in my hands. What is wrong with me? What have I done?

A while later, I heard someone arrive in the room, but I didn't pay any attention to who it was until I heard my name.

"Amelia?" It was the unexpected voice that caught my attention.

"You're the very last person I would have expected to come and check up on me," I said bitterly. Rosalie walked over and looked at the picture on the screen.

"Is that you?" she asked.

"Me and Katie. It was Katie's 18th I was returning from when my friends decided a good drinking game was 'push Amelia down a flight of stairs and see if she lives'."

"Was she was one of them?" she asked softly.

"Katie? No!" I said incredulously.

"You look different," she said, scrutinizing the picture. "Younger. And you've got straight hair."

"It's from year ten." She looked confused. "I don't know what the American equivalent school year is. I was fifteen though. And everyone straightened their hair back then. Never really suited me though."

She gave a sigh. "Look, I know I've been a bit of a …"

"Bitch," I supplied - apparently my insulting people streak wasn't over yet.

She laughed bitterly. "I suppose I deserve that." There was another moment of silence while she looked intently at the picture. "How are you not angry?"

"Not angry?" I asked incredulously. "So far today I've: shouted at Carlisle and Harry over Facebook, snapped at Esme over tomatoes, told Jasper I'd give him another scar, and called you a bitch." It sounded so much worse in list form. "What part of that suggests I'm not angry?"

She laughed bitterly again. "That's just newbornitis, we've all been there."

"'Newbornitis'?" I questioned.

She laughed again, but it was an actual proper laugh this time. "I've been spending too much time with Emmett."

"Makes it sound like a disease. How has Carlisle not come up with a cure yet? Isn't he supposed to be a doctor?" She laughed again, but her face became serious once more.

"I mean, why aren't you angry about what happened?"

"I am," I admitted. "That's why I've been shouting at people today, because I was angry earlier when I saw some messages on here from my so-called friends."

"But you're not angry at Carlisle and Harry? Just like you said a few weeks ago."

I shrugged. "Like I said, they saved me." Her eyes moved from scrutinizing the picture to my face.

"Do you want to know why I've been such a bitch to you?" I nodded - this should be interesting. "You got to keep a part of your humanity. I'd give anything to be human again, or just to have any small part of it back. And you got to, and you don't even seem to understand how lucky you are."

"Lucky? The only part of humanity I want back is being able to go see my family and my friends. I want to stop them from being upset because of me. But I can't. Stupid vampire laws.

"So I can drink a goddamn can of Coke? It doesn't change the fact that I'm an ocean away from my home, that I tried to kill a little girl, or that I'm forever frozen as a teenager. I'm just as stuck as you, Rosalie. You still want to be human now? How many decades down the line? No offence, but everyone you once knew is dead, what the Hell would you gain from it? Look around you. You have a family who loves you, and a husband who loves you. Why the Hell would you want to give that all up?"

"Wouldn't you? If you could go home?"

"I don't know," I admitted. That was a part of the problem. Yes, I loved my family, but I loved the Cullens too. And then there was Harry.

Our conversation was disturbed by the sound of a car pulling up.

"Oh great, the dogs are home," she muttered. She went to walk away.

"Rosalie," I called after her. "You have a lot to celebrate in this life. So do I. Maybe we should actually celebrate it instead of clinging to the past."

She smiled. "Maybe," she agreed, before walking out the room. I clicked off the picture and shut down the computer, realizing the truth in my own words.

Nessie and Leah walked in the door. The second Nessie spotted me she ran up to me, excited. In the last few weeks I had become much more accustomed to her scent. It helped that it was always mixed with the repulsive scent of the wolves.

"We're having our first club meeting tonight," she told me happily.

"Club meeting?" I asked.

"The 'Freaks' club meeting." She scrutinized my face. "What's the matter, Auntie Amelia?" she asked.

"What? Nothing, I'm fine," I said, trying to sound off-hand. She looked at me for a second, walked over to Leah and put her hand on her face, then walked off. "I'm off to tell Mum and Daddy," she called as she left.

"I was being sarcastic," I told Leah. "About the club thing."

"I know. She doesn't have to though," Leah told me. She seemed a lot happier than I remember ever seeing her, or at least a lot less hostile. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," I lied.

"Nice try, you have tear tracks all down your face. Which is weird considering I thought vampires couldn't cry?"

"It's a freak thing," I informed her. "It's nothing." She looked at me disbelievingly, but seemed to decide to drop the subject, much to my relief.

A loud bang came from outside.

"Excuse me," she said. "I have to go see what my spaz of a brother and my dipshit of an alpha are doing."

A couple of minutes later, Jacob walked in. He took one look at me and said, "Jeez, what's wrong?"

"What do you care?" I snapped.

"Vampire or not, I can't just leave a crying woman."

"I'm not crying anymore."

"Trying to be nice here," he said, mimicking what I'd said when I was cooking pancakes.

"Yeah, and what's up with that? All the people who hated me are being nice to me, now I've made the people who were nice to me, hate me."

"Who hates you exactly?"

"Harry, Carlisle, Esme, Alice, and Jasper."

"OK, let's start from the top. Harry doesn't hate you – that guy loves you. Why is a mystery to everyone-"

"Thanks," I interjected, though I could tell he was joking. Or I hoped he was anyway.

He laughed before continuing. "As for Carlisle and Esme, I think it's pretty much impossible for them to hate anyone. Hell, they didn't even hate us during the whole vampires-werewolves amenity thing. Alice is so happy and bouncy she can't hold a grudge, and if Alice likes you then Jasper does."

"Thanks," I smiled weakly. "What is with the sudden niceness though?" I asked suspiciously.

He shrugged. "Nessie likes you. I can't be nasty to someone Nessie likes. It's an imprint thing."

"I think I'm beginning to like this imprinting thing." I heard a bitter chuckle from the doorway. Leah was standing there - all happiness vanished.

"Um, I'm going to go find Ness," Jacob said quickly before walking out.

"What's wrong?" I asked Leah.

"Long story short – my boyfriend, ex-boyfriend now, imprinted on my cousin," she said bitterly.

"Oh," I said, at a loss for words. "Sorry." I thought about what I'd said to Rosalie. "You know what I've learned today though?" She looked at me curiously. "You can't live in the past."

She laughed bitterly. "I try. It's not that easy though."

"I'm sorry. I wish I could help but-"

"There's nothing you can do," Leah supplied.

"Yeah," I agreed sadly. I honestly did wish there was something I could do. Nobody deserved to go through something like that, particularly someone like Leah, who underneath the tough interior, seemed like a good person. "Do you want a cup of tea?" I asked.

She laughed, shaking her head. "Could you be any more British?"

"Why are you coming to the 'freaks' club meeting?" I asked Harry, who couldn't hide the smile from his face as we walked down the hallway, his arm around my waist. I had the feeling something was going on.

"I'm the only vampire whose talent links to their sense of smell, do I not qualify?" he asked jokingly.

"If I say yes, does that mean I get to keep you with me?" I asked optimistically.

"Deal," Harry said, sneaking a kiss. We stopped at the top of the stairs and looked down to find the entire Cullen family, plus all three werewolves in the living room.

"Why are you all here?" I asked as we walked down the stairs.

"We're all vampires, werewolves, or hybrids, Amelia. None of us exactly qualify as normal," Renesmee said. She came to stand next to me, placing her hand on my wrist. I saw her suggesting this entire thing to Leah, Jacob, and Seth, followed by getting each member of her family to agree.

"You did all this for me?" It still shocked me that she even liked me, all things considered. She nodded; before I could stop myself I pulled her into a hug, letting go quickly as her scent filled my senses.

"I thought it was a good idea," Leah said. "To know you're not alone."

"Thanks. But I'm still a little bit freakier than you all. By the way, does anyone have any idea why I am the way I am?"

"I have many theories," Carlisle answered. I turned my attention to him. "For example, your transformation was a day shorter than most."

"Well, I'm not complaining about that," I muttered, shuddering. I saw all the vampires in the room do the same.

"You had also been drinking the night of your transformation."

"Could that have affected me?" I asked.

"Maybe. The problem is we have nothing to compare you to."

"You forgot the theory about your venom being slightly defunct nowadays," Harry chimed in.

"Yeah, well, I'm not particularly keen on that one," Carlisle muttered.

"So, basically, the short answer is you don't have a clue."

"Pretty much," Carlisle admitted.

"Anyway, moving on. What's the next order of business for the Freaks Club?"

"Oh!" Emmett shouted. "We need a club leader. I suggest me!"

"Not in a million years, Emmett," Edward said.

"I'll do it," Alice said.

"Na-huh, little sister," Emmett replied.

"I can do it," Jacob said. "I do have prior leadership experience."

"Or I could be allowed to be the leader for a change," Seth suggested. They continued like that for a few minutes, their discussion turned argument slowly getting louder and louder, and more boisterous. Jacob threw a piece of cookie at Seth and all Hell broke loose. Suddenly cookie crumbs were flying everywhere; I blame whoever left the box in Emmett's reach. Somewhere among the ramble we could hear Carlisle and Esme trying to get control of the situation. Harry, Nessie, and I watched from the sidelines.

"What about Nessie?" I suggested over the noise. They all turned to look at me. "It was her idea, after all." Nessie beamed at me.

"Can I?" she asked. Everyone made noises of agreement.

"Well, now that's sorted. You can all sort this mess out," Esme snapped, turning on her children and the wolves, while shaking cookie crumbs out of her hair. There was several mumbled 'yes, Mom' and 'yes, Esme'.

"Do you need some help?" I asked.

"Oh, you don't need to, dear, you weren't the one throwing cookies around," Esme said to me sweetly before glaring at the others. I shrugged

"Sure," Emmett shouted. "Grab a dustbin and brush."

May 2010

Astoria, Oregon

Harry

Amelia was spinning around and around. Her brunette curls flew out around her as she continued to spin. Her dress billowed around her. The tinny sound coming from the headphones suggested she had it on full volume, though I didn't recognize the song, some modern pop thing. Faster and faster she spun, oblivious to the fact that five vampires were watching her from the hallway. The spinning caused the air to shift around as well, throwing wave after wave of her captivating scent at me.

Suddenly she stopped, her orange eyes stared at us, wide with surprise for a moment before she ripped the earphones out of her head, accidentally breaking them.

"Oh crap," she muttered, breaking the magical feel of the moment.

"We'll buy some more," Esme said sweetly. "And language," she added. I don't know if anyone else spotted it, but I saw Amelia begin her eye roll before stopping herself.

"Did you know vampires can't get dizzy?" she asked us. Actually I hadn't, and by the looks on their faces neither did the others, for why would a vampire ever spin around enough to find out?

"Really?" Alice asked. She picked up the iPod in Amelia's hands - a present given to her by our entire family, Edward had put his entire collection on there for her and then Alice had added the top thousand best-selling songs of the 'noughties' according to the UK charts – and placed it into the docking station we had in the living room.

As the music began to play, Amelia grabbed my arms and began to spin us around. The world swirled around me, going faster and faster. I laughed out loud - this was amazing. I had not felt so carefree and happy in so long. We just kept spinning and spinning, until,

CRASH!

Suddenly I found myself flying to the floor. I looked up to find Amelia and the other four on the floor too. They most have joined in, and then we'd crashed into each other. After a second of stunned silence, everyone started to laugh. I looked over at Amelia, who was laughing happily. Her face was lit up with a bright smile. Before I could stop myself, I leaned over and kissed her.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you, too," she whispered back.

My apologies for the delay, there was some beta issues.

By the way, the phrase 'noughties' refers to the decade between 2000-2009. I don't know if it's a purely British saying or not, but my beta didn't understand it so I thought I best clarify.

Reviews are greatly appreciated :)