Hi! First of all, thanks for reading my Twilight fan-fic story so far.

I've had an exhaustingly busy week and feel so tired right now but I am looking forward to seeing what you think of Chapter Four! I'm uploading the story faster than I initially expected, so be prepared for another chapter to come sometime over the weekend. And I hope you're all having a great holiday season. :)

Please R&R (read and review!)

Copyright declaration: The Twilight series and its characters are the creation of and copyright of Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing and this is purely a not-for-profit work of fan fiction. No copyright infringement intended.

Author's note: I have made this as creative and imaginative as possible and if it bears resemblance to any other fan-fiction story it is entirely coincidental. There is such a huge amount of Twilight fan-fiction out there that it would be impossible to trawl through it all to see if someone has already had this plot idea and I assure you that if there are any similarities to other Twilight fan-fic stories, they are completely unintentional and inadvertent.

Chapter Four

- Journey -

The next day I was up at 6 am, an hour before the rest of the Cullens appeared from their rooms. Vampires don't sleep but they all retire to their rooms at night. Esme says Carlisle meditates a lot and that meditation is the only thing that allows him some respite from the busy thoughts of the day. I've been staying with them a lot recently and although my dad made it clear that he would like it if I moved back in with him, I couldn't bring myself to do it permanently. In his house there are too many reminders of my old life and of the girl I was, and most of all, too many reminders of Edward. Of course, I am reminded of him in the Cullens' house too but I feel better there, more at home. It was hard to admit this to my dad but he acknowledged the fact that I am Mrs. Bella Cullen now. Although it might not be the usual convention for someone to stay with their in-laws for the majority of the time, my marriage was no ordinary marriage and the Cullens are not exactly a traditional family.

So, I've been staying there and working in Forks for the past two years, pretty uneventful really. I haven't made it to college yet, after graduating from high school, but I have completed a few correspondence courses so I don't get out of the habit and I am planning to make a few enquiries about applying to college next year. After all, I am not planning on staying in Forks forever. There is too much history here; sometimes I expect to see Edward walking down Main Street or sitting in his room listening to his beloved Debussy. I feel that I need a fresh start. Andof course, the Cullens can't stay here forever. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett are all supposed to be away at college so it's impossible for any of them to go to Forks, in order to keep up the pretence. But although they're often away on trips and explorations (Rosalie and Emmett went to India last month), Esme and Carlisle are still here, with Carlisle occupied with his busy job at the hospital. Sooner or later people are going to notice that they are not aging or showing any visible signs of change. Esme told me that a woman has already commented on the luster of her skin and asked her for her beauty secrets, which Esme laughed off under the story of having had cosmetic surgery in Los Angeles. They haven't voiced anything to me yet but I know they are thinking about moving to another area of the States soon. When they do, it will force me to make decisions about my own life.

7 am – time to get going. I grabbed a bowl of cereal and we loaded our suitcases into Carlisle's huge car. "Where's Jake got to?" I asked, checking my watch. "We should be going soon."

"It's okay, Bella," Esme replied. "You're picking him up from your dad's house and we're following you."

"But I thought I was coming with you?"

Last night's argument was still fresh in my mind and spending an hour in a car, alone, with Jacob really did not fit my ideal scenario.

"I don't think it's really necessary for the dog to travel with us," Rosalie said snootily.

"Oh, okay, I get your point," I muttered back.

The smell of werewolves, even when they are in human form, is highly repulsive to vampires. Although the other Cullens politely pay no attention to it, Rosalie will find any excuse to avoid Jacob, whom she distrusts.

"So is my dad going with you then?" I questioned.

"We offered him the ride," Carlisle said. "It would be nice to get to know him a little better."

"Are you guys planning some sort of conspiracy or something?" I grumbled as I walked to Alice's Porsche, which I was borrowing. "Or did Jake set this up?"

"C'mon Rosalie, time to go!" Emmett called, and we set off, a convoy of three cars, one driven by Carlisle, the other by Emmett and Alice's Porsche driven by me. It didn't take long to drive to my dad's house. Charlie and Jacob were waiting on the steps, laughing and joking. My dad's always gotten along well with Jake and I know he considers him to practically be part of the family, or wishes he was part of the family.

"Hey, Bella," Jacob greeted me as he got in the front seat of the car.

"Hi," I said monosyllabically in return.

"We'll see you in Port Angeles," Carlisle waved as Charlie got into the car, giving me a thumbs-up. I sighed. Carlisle hadn't fooled me into thinking that the Cullens had just invited my dad along for the ride because they wanted to do some in-law bonding, meeting the family... I knew exactly why my dad was doing this, engineering it so that I would have to spend a full hour in a car with Jacob. My father made no secret of his hope for my future.

"C'mon Bells," Jacob said. "Let's get moving, or they'll be ahead of us."

I turned the key in the ignition and we set off; Jake fiddled with the radio and settled on some country-pop station. We sat companionably side-by-side; I'd been friends with Jacob long enough to feel completely at ease talking about virtually anything in the world, despite my grumpiness from last night's dispute. I knew that he knew that my dad had done this on purpose and silently laughed to myself. Dear Charlie, how nice it was of him to organize for me to spend some time with my best buddy.

"Look, Bella," Jacob began awkwardly after I'd driven a couple of miles down the highway. "I'm sorry about last night."

"It's okay," I acknowledged his apology. "Really, just forget about it. But don't pressure me again, okay?"

With country music blaring out of the stereo and me really putting my foot down on the accelerator in Alice's Porsche (I enjoyed the slightly worried look on Jacob's face as he watched the speedometer climbing), the hour to Port Angeles went by very quickly indeed. We checked our luggage in and boarded the flight to Seattle, which didn't take long. Once in Seattle, we had a half hour to spare before we needed to go to the terminal for the flight to New York, which I spent reading Wuthering Heights, much to the dismay of Alice, who kept trying to drag me off to look at clothes, perfume and make-up. Then, we boarded our flight and I began to feel a quiver of excitement as the plane ascended and I watched Seattle spread out below me.