A/N: Okay, so this is my first story, so I hope you enjoy. I got this idea when I was watching Trading Spouses one night and I thought 'wouldn't it be cool if our favourite story family decided to participate?' And so the idea was born.
This story is NOT All Human. Carlisle and Esme are the 'parents' and the 'children' are playing the ages they are in Twilight (Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper are in grade 12 (18 yrs), Edward, Bella and Alice are in grade 11(17yrs)).
There is no Renesmee.
Okay, well I hope you enjoy this story.
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight related. I'm not sure who owns Trading Spouses, but it sure as hell isn't me.
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Chapter One: Preparing For The Switch
The silence outside the large, white house was extremely conflicting with the complete chaos that raged inside. The eight members of the Cullen family were frantically preparing for the coming switch. A switch that could possibly blow their cover.
Alice Cullen decided it could be fun if they signed up for the T.V. show Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy. She argued it would be a fun change from their normal life, the planned out life they all lived everyday. They had been living as 'humans' for years, and she was positive - as she had the ability to know such things - that they would be able to improvise the charade for one week. Sure, they would have to cough up the meals the new mom cooked, but it would still be fun.
However, she had decided to tell everyone about the coming switch three days prior. And that was when the chaos began.
The whole family was running around making sure all traces of their true nature was hidden. They were buying food, even preparing a few meals to stand as leftovers in the fridge, and adding beds to more rooms. One for the new mother, and one for each of the kids. What would it look like if the couples slept in the same rooms? They were also hiding many of their more expensive cars, how much luxury could one family have?
On the night before the switch, Carlisle gave the family a bit of instruction for the coming week. They gathered around the dining room table, a table that was about to be used for its designed purpose for the first time.
"Alright everyone, Alice has assured us many times that this will all turn out fine, but just to be sure, here are a few things I need you to remember. First, you six are not couples. You are brothers and sisters. Try to express no more than brotherly or sisterly love for each other. If you feel the need to demonstrate your feelings for one another please do not do it in front of the cameras and especially not in front of the new mom. Second, you'll have to eat this week. I know it's difficult, but please try to take portions a person your size would. I'm sorry Emmett." He said as he gave an apologetic glance to the extremely large vampire sitting across from him. "Thirdly, for the next week this house is no longer a safe haven. Everything you say and do will be seen by the nation. Move at human speed, talk at human speed, do everything as a human would. Try to be as 'normal' as you can. Edward, do not answer thoughts, Jasper, leave the emotions alone and Alice, keep the future to yourself. I think that's all I can say. Oh, and please be polite to the new mother."
The six vampires nodded. Everyone, except Alice, was skeptical of how the next week would play out. There were so many things that could go wrong in the course of the week. Their home was usually the place where they could be themselves, it would be difficult to break the habit of not pretending. However, as dubious as everyone was, they took comfort in Alice's confidence.
As the sun began to make it first appearance, the tension in the house rose. Esme was gathering her things in a neat and uniform pile, awaiting the yellow taxi that would come and take her to the airport in Seattle. She would be heading to a Atlanta, Georgia that morning. Joining a new family. She couldn't deny the excitement building up in her. She wanted to get to know this new family, help them in any way possible, maybe redecorate their house. But she was still worried. It would be harder for her, spending a week in the sunny south, but Alice had assured her that the weather for the next week would be uncharacteristically rainy and cloudy, and if the sun was to make an unexpected appearance, Alice had prepared her with a wardrobe designed to cover most of her body. She would also be alone, the others would have each other, she would have no one, she'd have to sneak out at night and hunt whatever she found, and she'd have only herself to rely on. It was mildly frightening.
The yellow vehicle pulled up in front of the house and gave two short honks, signaling it had arrived. The family gathered and each gave Esme a quick hug and wished her luck for the week. The last was Carlisle, he stepped forward and gave her a tight hug, a quick peck on the lips and told her he'd be awaiting her return.
She gathered her things, waved goodbye and was soon on her way to the Seattle airport, to be flown to Atlanta.
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Linda Walling was preparing to depart from her home in Atlanta, to a stranger's house in the small town of Forks, Washington, she had never even heard of Forks before this. She was nervous. Nervous to be away from her family, nervous to be living in another person's house, nervous that the new mother might be a complete psycho. She really didn't know why she was doing this, sure, the family would get $50,000 dollars, but still, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. She was told very little about the family she was soon going to become a part of. She knew they had six kids, and she knew they lived in Forks. That was about it. Other than those small facts, she was just stumbling around in the dark.
She knew her husband, Jim, wasn't too thrilled about the switch either. He didn't want some high maintenance woman coming into his home, complaining and changing everything about the way they lived.
They lived in one of the lower income neighborhoods of Atlanta. They had enough to live on, and that was good enough for them. Jim worked as a warehouse worker for a local paper company and made just enough for them afford a good house and all the necessities. Their family couldn't afford luxuries. The family had one car which they all shared. Jim usually took it to work.
Their two children, Sandra and Andy, attended the local high school. Sandra was fifteen and in grade ten, while Andy was seventeen and in grade twelve. They, like their father, were not especially excited about the switch. They were not particularly close with their mother, but they didn't really want a stranger posing as her, giving them orders they did not want to take. They didn't want this mother to bring some foreign way of life into their home that she liked better than theirs.
Linda began to gather her things at the front door, anxiously awaiting the car that would take her to the airport. The rest of her family waited with her.
"Are you excited?" Asked Sandra. She was comfortably seated on the old couch, her relaxed pose hiding just how nervous she was. She had never been without her mother for long. She didn't know how things would happen for the next week, how the family would function without the rock that held them all together.
Linda turned to look at her daughter. She wasn't sure how to answer the question and not give away just how fearful she was.
"Yeah, I guess I am. I'm excited to meet this new family, they have six kids! I'm not sure how to handle them all."
"Six!?" Jim repeated astonished.
"And they're all teenagers." Linda replied.
The Walling family was positive the house must be complete mayhem all the time. This family had only two teenagers and it had functioning issues. There was a constant squabble for the bathroom and the bickering never seemed to end. The fighting in that house must be three times as bad.
Linda gulped as she contemplated the coming challenge. How was she ever going to contain six teenagers?
"I'm sure you'll do just fine, ma. You manage Andy just fine and I'm sure he's worse than all of them put together." Sandra said in a joking tone.
"Shut up!" Andy shouted as he punched his sister's shoulder.
Linda smiled as the bickering between her two children started up again. She would miss it over the next week. It was oddly comforting to her, when it wasn't annoying the living daylights out of her.
As she was committing the sound to her memory, she heard a honking outside the window.
"That's my ride." She said as she began to pick up her things. He two children stopped fighting long enough to hug her goodbye and her husband carried half her bags out to the cab.
She turned to Jim when the last bag was put in it's place and gave him a hug and a quick kiss goodbye.
"Have fun, I'll be waiting here at home for you." Jim told her as he waved goodbye.
Then Linda was quickly being taken to the airport about to be flown off to a completely unknown town to a stranger's house. She could only hope it wouldn't be too horrific.
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Well, that's chapter one for you. I hope you enjoyed it.
I know it's a short chapter, but this was just the preparations for the actual switch and I needed to introduce my other family, the Wallings. They should get longer when we get into the actual story.
I'd love to hear what you think of this, so drop me a line by clicking on that 'Review This Story' button!
Until next time,
- tanis ann
